OPEN CALL // EXHIBITION // BOOK EDITION
2022
How often have you taken some selfie nudes in a moment of self discovery or self satisfaction and deleted them right after?
How do YOU see yourSELF and how would you like to be portrayed?
What are you ashamed of that you shouldn’t be?
CONTENT
1. What is it about?
2. How can you participate?
3. Why do I need your participation?
4. Exhibition / Book edition / Artist
5. Data protection and conditions of participation
WHAT IS IT ABOUT?
In our everyday life we are flooded with images of completely or partially naked white, young, thin and hetero, cis-women (women who were born and identify as female). We are so overwhelmed by optimized bodies that we became afraid of looking on an accepting our own ones. Rejecting our selfs and worse rejecting others for how they look like is something we have internalized.
The sad truth is: Desirability makes your live easier.* But what about desiring yourself and leave the others just the fucking way they are? How about not leaving the power of setting the standards of how a beautiful body looks like to anybody else than ourselves.
„Your Selfie Is Iconic!“ is an open call to WLINTA*. This means: Women, Lesbian, Inter, Non-Binary and or Trans. (The Star stands for people who can not identify with any of these Identities, yet are also marginalized in our patriachal dominant society and are not born and identify as male). I’m looking for people who are interested in an individual and collective questioning on the normative construct of the male gaze and how the relationship towards our bodies and sexuality is influenced by that.
My wish was to show already in the campaign the variety of bodies that exist. I know that this is unfortunately not the case. That’s why I want to emphasize at this point that I especially invite Black and Indigenous People, People of Color, Disabled -, Fat -, Queer People, People who gave birth and elderly people whose bodies are structurally made invisible to the public eye. I believe we all feel an urge to see the beauty and the diversity of our bodies so please feel all invited to join.
With your help, I want to collect an archive of self-determined and beautiful body images that can still be recognized as SELFies. The result I want to present in my solo show at the FLINTA* Art Space BIAS in Dresden in December, 2022 and I will create a limited non-commercial edition to archive the images.
HOW CAN YOU PARTICIPATE?
SEND ME YOUR NUDE! I ask you to send me your selfie nude taken in these moments of self-discovery which were taken for your own sake and to satisfy no one but yourself. These selfies can show parts of your body that you find attractive, parts that you are just discovering, or parts that you don’t like but you wish you would. You decide what and how much you want to share! Your identity will remain fully anonymous!
Send me your nude via
yourselfieisiconic@hannahdoepke.com
Check below to find out how your data will be protected and what the conditions of participation are!!
WHY DO I NEED YOUR PARTICIPATION?
We have been socialized in a patriarchal world where we have been taught that the naked female body is only to be seen for the satisfaction of the male gaze/consumption and capitalist profit (e.g. commercials). The fact that bodies of Black, Indigenous People and People of Color are often times fetishised and exoticised. And the fact that Disabled people, Fat, Queer, Elderly people, people with stretch marks and many more are not on public display shows the systematic discrimination is part of our society. That’s why reappropriating the display of our own bodies and self-determined sexuality becomes an iconic, political, and healing act.
Shame prevents us from having autonomy over our own body, exploring self-pleasure, masturbation and a healthy relationship with our selves and our bodies. Together we can expand the heteronomous body representations that dominate our everyday life and art history with self-aware, authentic, vulnerable and above all self-determined bodies.
Let’s add some real nudes to this world full of hyper-capitalized bodies that we are so bored of!
Mail to yourselfieisiconic@hannahdoepke.com!
EXHIBITION
The collection of the selfies was presented for the first time in December 2022 at BIAS Contemporary FLINTA* Projects in Dresden, Germany. Now the exhibition is touring. Upcoming events to be announced soon!
BOOK EDITION
The collected selfies will be archived in a limited non-commercial edition designed by Julia Ostheimer and Hannah Doepke. The book is limited to an amount of 17 books. They will be featured for exhibitions and art libraries / feminist archives. The locations will be announced spring 2024.
ARTIST
My name is Hannah Doepke. I am an artist based in Dresden, Germany. My artistic work is focused on the topics feminism, care and community. To find out more about me and my work, please check out my website → hannahdoepke.com or Instagram @hnnhdpke
Campaign and edition design by Julia Ostheimer (check out her work at her website: julia-ostheimer.com or Instagram: @yuliabutwhy)
DATA PROTECTION AND CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION
- If you are under 18, unfortunately you can not participate.
- You decide what and how much you want to share. If you want to show your genitals or your face, feel free to do that.
- If possible, make sure the quality of your photo is not lower than one mb.
- The images will be shown ONLY in the exhibition and in the non-commercial edition. The exhibition and edition will be accompanied by the text of the open call and the concept of the project. Your photos will not be re-contextualized.
- Your selfies will of course be treated in the most appropriate and respectful way!
- No names will be mentioned in neither the exhibition nor the publication or any other context. Your identity remains fully anonymous.
- The artist will reserve the prerogative to weed out certain images if they represent content that is inconsistent with the morals of the project or if the quality of the picture doesn’t allow me to display or print it.
- By sending your photo, you agree that the rights of your image are transferred to the artist. The aforementioned points regarding the protection and the appropriate treatment of your image will of course be observed. The artist is free to use the photo within the framework of the artistic freedom and, if necessary, to edit it for the technical realization of the project.
- If you change your mind send me a message and I will delete your picture and not show it in future exhibitions anymore. For the book edition no cancelation is possible anymore.
I’m looking forward to your participation and I’m excited to see the project realized. A big thanks in advance for your participation, interested and trust!
For any request or concern regarding the project feel free to contact me either on instagram or via mail mail@hannahdoepke.com!
*the concept for the project and the text was among others strongly influenced by the book “Women don’t owe you pretty” by Florence Given.
**Statement: Unfortunately, Florence Given’s book has been found to have similarities to the book „What a Time to be Alone“ by black author and activist Chidera Erregue (`The Slumflower‘). After Chidera Erregue went public with her accusation, she was fired by her management group Diving Bell, which also represents Florence Given. This treatment is shameful and discriminatory. I do not want to distance myself from the content of the book however from Florence Given as the author.
For sure, there are many facts that I do not know. If you want to deal with the issue, it is probably best to do your own research on it.
