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The University of Chicago Selfie Aesthetics THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SELFIE AESTHETICS: FORM, PERFORMANCE, AND TRANSFEMINIST POLITICS IN SELF- REPRESENTATIONAL ART A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE DIVISION OF THE HUMANITIES IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF CINEMA AND MEDIA STUDIES BY NICOLE ERIN MORSE CHICAGO, ILLINOIS AUGUST 2018 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ vi INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER ONE “BECAUSE OF YOU, I KNOW THAT I EXIST”: DOUBLING IN SELFIE AESTHETICS ......................................................................... 18 CHAPTER TWO “TANK TOPS, POLKA DOTS, GIRL COCKS”: SELFIE SERIALITY AND THE POLITICS OF VISIBILITY ............. 67 CHAPTER THREE THE ARCHIVE IS NOT HERE YET: QUEER TIME AND ALTERNATIVE HISTORIES IN SELFIE ARCHIVES .................... 120 CHAPTER FOUR THE IMAGE OF LIFE AND #LIFEITSELF: POROUS BOUNDARIES AND POSTHUMAN INTIMACIES IN SELFIE AESTHETICS....................................................................................... 171 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BOOKS AND ARTICLES ............................................ 222 ii LIST OF FIGURES (titles only - images not included) Figure 1: Vivek Shraya, Trisha - 1 (2016) ................................................................................... 1 Figure 2: At Least You Know You Exist (2011), courtesy of Zackary Drucker and Luis de Jesus Gallery Los Angeles ..................................................................................... 19 Figure 3: Claude Cahun, Self-Portrait (1928) ........................................................................... 21 Figure 4: Claude Cahun, Que veux me tu? (1928) and photograph circa 1929 ......................... 22 Figure 5: Selfie by Reina Gossett ............................................................................................... 33 Figure 6: Selfie by Vivek Shraya ............................................................................................... 36 Figure 7: Selfie by Reina Gossett .............................................................................................. 40 Figure 8: Zackary Drucker and Rhys Ernst, Relationship, #44 (Flawless Through the Mirror) .................................................................................................................. 46 Figure 9: Zackary Drucker and Rhys Ernst, Relationship, #1 ................................................... 52 Figure 10: Zackary Drucker and Rhys Ernst, Relationship, #8 .................................................. 53 Figure 11: Zackary Drucker and Rhys Ernst, Relationship, #33 ............................................... 55 Figure 12: Divergent - 1 (2014) ................................................................................................. 61 Figure 13: Divergent - 2 (2014) ................................................................................................. 63 Figure 14: Divergent - 3 (2014) ................................................................................................. 64 Figure 15: Janani Balasubramanian posted on DarkMatter's Instagram account on October 18, 2015 ...................................................................................................... 67 Figure 16: Alok Vaid-Menon, in a selfie posted on DarkMatter's Instagram account on February 12, 2016 .................................................................................................... 68 Figure 17: Zinnia Jones, in a selfie posted on Jones' Tumblr account on February 17, 2014 ................................................................................................... 68 Figure 18: Selfie by Zinnia Jones, posted on Tumblr on March 31, 2014 ............................... 73 iii Figure 19: Selfie by Brae Carnes ............................................................................................... 81 Figure 20: Selfie by Michael Hughes ........................................................................................ 81 Figure 21: Selfie by Zinnia Jones, captioned "Find a creative use for sharpies," posted March 31, 2015 ........................................................................................................ 85 Figure 22: Selfie of Balasubramanian posted on DarkMatter's Instagram account approximately on February 14, 2016, subsequently deleted .................................... 88 Figure 23: First frame of a looping video posted on DarkMatter's Instagram account approximately on February 14, 2016, subsequently deleted .................................... 88 Figure 24: Selfie of Vaid-Menon, posted on Instagram on December 18, 2016 ....................... 89 Figure 25: Selfie of Vaid-Menon, posted on Instagram on October 17, 2015 ........................... 90 Figure 26: Selfie by Jones, posted repeatedly on Tumblr, including November 7, 2013, January 2, 2014, and October 11, 2014 ................................................................... 91 Figure 27: Selfie by Zinnia Jones, posted on Tumblr March 9, 2014 ........................................ 97 Figure 28: Selfie by Zinnia Jones, posted on Tumblr May 30, 2014 ......................................... 97 Figure 29: Selfie by Zinnia Jones, posted on Tumblr May 31, 2014 .......................................... 97 Figure 30: Selfie by Zinnia Jones, posted on Tumblr on August 11, 2013 ............................... 99 Figure 31: Selfie by Zinnia Jones, posted on Tumblr on December 21, 2013 .......................... 99 Figure 32: Selfie by Alok Vaid-Menon, posted on Instagram on January 9, 2016 ................. 102 Figure 33: Two videos by Alok Vaid-Menon, posted on Instagram on January 11, 2016 and January 12, 2016 .............................................................................................. 115 Figure 34: Selfie timeline by Zinnia Jones .............................................................................. 121 Figure 35: Lipstick City - 1 (2016) ........................................................................................... 135 Figure 36: Lipstick City - 2 (2016) ........................................................................................... 137 Figure 37: Vivek Shraya, Holy Mother, My Mother (2014) .................................................... 144 Figure 38: Vivek Shraya, "Teaser" for Holy Mother, My Mother (2014) ............................... 145 Figure 39: Vivek Shraya, Trisha - 2 (2016) ............................................................................. 149 iv Figure 40: Vivek Shraya, Trisha - 3 (2016) ............................................................................. 151 Figure 41: Selfie by Alanna Chelmick ..................................................................................... 154 Figure 42: Contrapoints, “Commentary on Alpha Males” ...................................................... 161 Figure 43: Contrapoints, “Degeneracy” ................................................................................... 162 Figure 44: Contrapoints, "Alpha Males" (L) and "Degeneracy" (R) ....................................... 164 Figure 45: Contrapoints, "Why the Alt-Right is Wrong” ........................................................ 165 Figure 46: Selfie by Zinnia Jones ........................................................................................... 171 Figure 47: Daguerreotype (1838) ............................................................................................. 177 Figure 48: Selfie by Zinnia Jones, posted on Tumblr on 30 November 2013 ......................... 192 Figure 29: Photo of Zinnia Jones (2011) ..................................................................... 199 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I want to thank Soyoung Yoon for guiding, encouraging, and challenging me at the State University of New York at Purchase College, and for introducing me to Roland Barthes’ Camera Lucida, which shaped both my love of photography and of writing about photography. I cannot adequately thank my committee for their guidance, support, and advice during the process of writing this dissertation. Nonetheless, thanks to Allyson Nadia Field for rigorous feedback and generous support and for guiding me in attending both carefully and passionately to the intersection of aesthetics and politics. Thanks to Patrick Jagoda for creative questions and patient mentorship and for fostering my enthusiasm for exploring new topics while simultaneously pushing me to be nuanced and precise. Thanks to Daniel Morgan for incredibly generative conversations, painstaking revisions, intellectual challenges, and inestimable advice, and for believing both in this project and in values beyond research and scholarship. Throughout the writing of this dissertation, the members of the graduate student writing group organized by Mikki Kressbach have provided detailed, meticulous, ingenious, and thoughtful feedback, as well as critical advice and support, and their time and attention are present throughout these pages. “Thank you” feels like far too little to say to Jordan Schonig, Matt Hubbell, Ian Bryce Jones, Will Carroll—and always, Hannah Frank. I am deeply grateful for the support
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