Week 39 - 2016
© Kristoffer Eliassen, Selfie, Reine in Lofoten, august 2015. Owned by the artist.
Selfie on a stage
Reine i Lofoten, a strikingly beautiful landscape. In the center of the picture a naked man sits and photographs himself. He doesn't look at nature or the view. He directs the camera toward himself to create a potentially click-friendly photo.
The man both in and back of the photograph is the artist Kristoffer Eliassen. He's playing with the relationship between the individual and the technology we use. The smart phone directs some of our attention away from the actual and toward the virtual world. Eliassen's project (this image is part of a series) deals with how these new tools have changed habits and behavior, especially as this involves our feeling about the physical self in public space.
When we see ourselves on the smart phone's small screen we often forget how we look in others' eyes when we pose. Eliassen explores the body language of the selfie-photographer. We don't see the face of the selfist.