I am particularly interested in the ways my work this term interacts with identity. My goal was not and has not been to interrogate identity, but now that I see the finished set, I think I have by default. Jurgenson says that “we come to know ourselves as selves precisely by taking on a third-person perspective on ourselves. That is, there is no ‘self’ without other people—no intrinsic, essential, or natural authenticity to our own identity without a mirror or camera to reflect it” (57).
The performance of self is intentional in any instance, it’s a series of choices that are made rather than naturally occurring. This is also true for the social photo, but the thing about photos is that they stick around, static, when moments do not. This allows for a different type of self-reflection to take place. The camera reflects a version of me, which I give to Instagram. When I look back at what I posted, I am able to see a narrative emerging which I did not purposefully put forth, but is there anyway, so it’s real. The theme seems to be people and connection.
Many of my classmates’ Instagrams are full of landscape or nature or street photos. By taking on a third-person perspective, I notice that my feed is not that. It’s mostly a series of people. It’s photos of me, but also people who are important to me. By taking on this third-person view, I am able to notice the “nonlinear process of continual becoming” (61) that is happening whether we see it or not.
Additionally, even the photos which seem random (a washing machine, a window, a cloud) were taken during moments that I shared with people who are important to me. While I wanted these to convey a sense of vague, uncertainty, my knowledge of the moment connects them to the theme. I certainly relate to the urge to “arrest the rules of time” (45) and save moments from decay/save people and relationships from decay. This is what seems to have emerged in my non-theme.
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