Selfies have become such a huge part of our lives that it’s hard to believe that they only became popular only a few years ago. People are snapping pics of themselves virtually everywhere, from the top of skyscrapers to their bathrooms, and we even gadgets and accessories designed around selfies. Things have gotten so bad that one artist has decided to take a stand against the selfie craze in a very unique way. Meet Stephanie Leigh Rose, the creator of “stefdies”.
What are “selfdies”, you ask? Well, Stephanie describes them as “anti-selfies”, but more specifically it is just the artist playing dead in random places, many of them popular tourist attractions. She just drops to the ground, face down, and pretends that she’s dead for a few moments, while someone takes her photo. She chronicles her unusual series on Instagram, where you can see her playing dead in a variety of places, from the Eiffel Tour and Louvre Museum, in Paris, to the Golden State Bridge, in San Francisco.
Photo: Stephanie Leigh Rose/Stefdies.com
“The series provokes discussion on mortality, the function of photography, and stirs the imagination. Nothing is premeditated or prepared in these photographs, the shot is captured in the moment as it occurs,” Stephanie writes on her website. “No special equipment, lighting, or conditions are met. I (the artist) go about my normal day, and if there happens to be a moment or a place I happen to find particularly provoking, I will take a STEFDIES photo. That is the beauty of this series, each photo is just a blip in a day. Nothing less, nothing more. It is the truest sense of what I believe photographs should be- tangible physical proof that ‘I was here’.”
As silly as her stefdies project may seem, Rose is very serious about it, and has crossed some serious hygiene boundaries to make her dead pose as realistic as possible. She told English newspaper Metro that her mouth definitely touched urine while laying down in a public loo in San Francisco, and she has come in contact with dog poo more times than she cares to remember. Lying down in dirty places has also ruined many of her clothes, but it was all in the name of art, so no big deal.
Photo: Stephanie Leigh Rose/Stefdies.com
The artist was once kicked out of Notre Dame cathedral for playing dead, asked to delete one of her selfdies photos in Rome, for being too close to an important politician, and almost trampled by a group of people, for posing for a selfdie during a marathon. Art requires sacrifice, and Stephanie seems willing to put herself in seriously uncomfortable positions, if it helps gets her anti-selfie message out there.
Photo: Stephanie Leigh Rose/Stefdies.com
“In the current culture of selfie stick-kardashian-youtube-photoshopped-memememe shitshows, we have forgotten what it means to take (or treasure) a photograph. We live in a virtual reality obsessed culture. Nothing is what it truly is, especially in photographs. Everything is airbrushed, circle light enhanced, pop centric, and enhanced. Everything is ‘staged’. We are all merely players,” Stephanie says. “I aim to get back to taking/showing a real photograph, a real person. I must not be connected to the camera, but instead be the object for the camera.”
To follow Stephanie Leigh Rose’s stefdies project, keep an eye on her Instagram and Facebook pages, and also visit her site, Stefdies.com.
