When is a selfie not a selfie? And what else could it be? Are we reflection of society or society is a reflection of us?
These are the questions raised by Olga Blacker’s series of carefully composed street shots in which the artist’s presence is hinted at but never fully shown.
By concealing herself within the work, the artist obliges the observer to speculate on the meaning of her presence in the scene and her relationship to the elements around her.
In this way the simple message of the standard selfie - “Look at me – I’m here” – is undermined and replaced by a more subtle challenge in which the observer is invited to seek the traces of the artist within the scene and her choice of context.
The series – all shot using a standard smartphone without post-production – is an intriguing journey through the spaces of everyday life and the enigmatic relationship between the self and its multiple representations.