"In Selfie Aesthetics, Nicole Erin Morse argues that selfies, and selfies by trans feminine creators specifically, interpellate viewers in politically committed encounters. Morse's close readings of individual selfies uncover complex formal strategies that belie the sense that these are artless or disposable media. Rather than narcissistic or frivolous, selfie creators are artists in political networks who present improvisational identities and new modes of performative resistance. Focusing on four formal strategies -- doubling, seriality, collaborative improvisation, and nonlinear temporalities -- Selfie Aesthetics shows not only the art of the polysemic form, but also the materialities of trans life that selfies convey. Tracing these strategies in selfies and self-representational art by artists including Zackary Drucker, Vivek Shraya, Tourmaline, Alok Vaid-Menon, Zinnia Jones, and Natalie Wynn, Selfie Aesthetics demonstrates the aesthetic depth and political utility of selfie creation, distribution, and reception. Contributing to trans feminist political analysis, Selfie Aesthetics shows how digital self-representational art can nuance key insights of queer theory, expand our understanding of self-representation, and construct collective and collaborative modes of being"-- Provided by publisher.
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