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The Social Media Muse

A visual analysis of characters and tropes in Amalia

Ulman’s Excellences & Perfections

School of Arts & Communication K3

Malmö University

Spring 2019

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Abstract

The social media influencer is becoming a prominent trope in contemporary media culture. In her Instagram performance artwork ​Excellences & Perfections​, Amalia Ulman imitated the content and lifestyle of different types of influencers for five months in 2014, gaining attention and inciting controversy when she finally revealed her hoax. She captured problematic aspects of performativity online, examined how it related to tropes and myths in our culture, and ultimately to our sense of identity. By analysing images from her work and comments from her followers at the time, this thesis aims to understand how her art acts as a commentary on issues of digital labour and

self-representation through images.

Title​: The Social Media Muse: A visual analysis of characters and tropes in Amalia Ulman’s

Excellences & Perfections

Author​: Gabriella Karlsson

Level​: Thesis at Master’s level in Media and Communication Studies Institution​: School of arts and communication (K3)

Faculty​: Culture and society

Centre of learning​: Malmö University Supervisor​: Temi Odumosu

Examinator​: Erin Cory

Term and year​: Spring term 2019

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Table of Contents

Abstract 1

Table of figures 3

1. Introduction 4

2. Purpose and research questions 5

2.1 Research Questions 5

3. Contextualization 5

4. Literature review 7

4.1 Influencer labour 7

4.2 Modern tropes of femininity 9

4.3 Women and performance art 11

5. Theoretical perspective 14

5.1 Performativity 14

5.2 Representation 15

5.3 Instagram photography and cultural myths 17

6. Method and material 19

6.1 Realization 21

6.2 Strengths and weaknesses of the method 22

6.3 Sample and material 23

6.4 Ethical Considerations 25

7. Results and analysis 27

7.1 The Pastel Babe 27

7.2 The Instagram Baddie 30

7.3 The Yogini 34

7.6 Conclusion 37

8. Summary and discussion 41

8.1 Summary 41

8.2 Discussion 42

9. References 44

Printed References 44

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Table of figures

1. Saussures model of the sign 20

2. Three of Ulman’s images from Excellences & Perfections 24

3. Three screenshots of the Instagram feed 25

4. A post from act 1 of Excellences & Perfections 27

5. A part of the feed from act 1 of Excellences & Perfections 29

6. A post from act 2 of Excellences & Perfections 30

7. A part of the feed from act 2 of Excellences & Perfections 32

8. A post from act 3 of Excellences & Perfections 34

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1. Introduction

In 2014, the Argentinian artist Amalia Ulman performed one of the most successful online art performances of that time, called ​Excellences & Perfections​. For five months, she tricked the Internet by curating an Instagram profile that told the story of a young girl trying to make it in Los Angeles. By the time that the story arch was complete and Ulman announced that it had all been a hoax, it had amassed almost 90 000 followers. During these five months, she had not only captured some of the most tenacious tropes of femininity, but also shone a light on troubling notions of authenticity on social media.

These themes of authenticity and gender performance make ​Excellences &

Perfections​ relevant today, since these are topics that continue to be debated as

Instagram grows as a platform and as a staple in our digital lifeworld. This art project is an early criticism of what some see as an increasingly unhealthy relationship with Instagram and dubious notions of ‘truth’ online (Appel et al., 2015).

Using social media both privately and as part of my work, scrolling through Instagram feeds and producing content is a routine activity for me personally. I value being able to express myself and create freely, but simultaneously I question how free I actually am when what I create is a reflection of how I want others to view me, and what I see others create. It is clearly not an accident that individual expression on Instagram can look so incredibly uniform. In the light of Ulman’s work I was faced with notions of performativity online and I began to reflect on my own images in relation to

stereotypical representations online. What are the tropes of our internet culture, and what do they mean for those who try to fit into them? What does it mean to work on Instagram today, where these tropes seem to generate the most engagement? What happens when relentless self-promotion is the “normal” way to use social media? As we spend more time shaping our identities in a digital environment, how we see ourselves, present ourselves and think about the world around us is impacted. It is a topic that is garnering more attention within the field of Media & Communication Studies as social media platforms become central for the communication of both individuals and enterprises, and I want to explore it through Ulman’s eyes.

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2. Purpose and research questions

Social media has become notorious over recent years for being the place where people present a polished and highly curated version of their lives. These online spaces are allowing us to tell the idealized story of our lives, and have taken a step away from the more traditional ideas of spontaneous sharing and connecting as certain norms of presentation become ubiquitous.

In her performance ​Excellences & Perfections,​ Amalia Ulman uses these norms, the tropes surrounding young women on the internet in particular, to explore the many ways it is possible to construct an identity online. The aim of this study is to examine the ways in which she uses Instagram tropes in her portraiture, and how her criticism of Instagram use can be interpreted from theoretical perspectives on performativity and identity.

I conducted a pilot study on the topic during an earlier course, and I will be applying the same methods chapter as used there, as well as build upon the analysis that was introduced there in order to expand it.Through qualitative semiotic analysis, this thesis will explore how Amalia Ulman uses Instagram tropes in her online art performance

Excellences & Perfections, ​and how she critiques aspects of digital labour and

performativity.

2.1 Research Questions

To fulfil the purpose of the thesis, three questions will constitute the basis that the analysis is built upon:

● How does Amalia Ulman use Instagram tropes in her internet art performance

Excellences & Perfections​?

● How does she critique influencing as a form of labour?

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3. Contextualization

Since the beginnings of large-scale social media platforms, criticism as well as

acclamations to the roles they play in our lives has formed a heated debate. Like a white noise of optimism and concern, it has been constant as the net generation has become more immersed in the digital cultures of online space (Blair, 2015:3). Questionings of authenticity has been a topic of choice for many; some say the filtered nature of online expression creates harmful ideologies (Appel et al., 2015; Ibrahim, 2015), and others say it is an opportunity to explore different kinds of genuine self expression, personal growth and connection with other people (Robards, 2012; Gray et. al. 2018:165-166). Individualisation is often celebrated, but overlooked is the fact that on social media as well as outside of it, a trend that becomes popular enough will be used for commercial gain as well as for self expression. We seek the unusual, adopt it, and slowly turn it into a cliché so common that we can hardly distinguish it anymore.

When Ulman began her provocations in 2014, the photography-based platform Instagram had been around for four years and was relatively new (Blystone, 2015). Social media influencers were an up-and-coming phenomenon and the first tentative research on their relevance and monetary worth in brand marketing was being published (Murphy & Schram, 2014). Ulman herself noted that Instagram hadn’t yet turned into a place for anyone and everyone to cultivate their personal brand, and that her performance couldn’t have been done with the same success today (Eler, 2018). She said that in comparison to back then, all users are now required to think like celebrities in the way they consider their self-presentation. Today it is influencers who are the creators and reinforcers of the online trends that dictate what kind of aesthetics we see as normal or beautiful. The photograph in particular has a history of being discussed in terms of authenticity (Sontag, 2008:5, 6), and with the developments of digital

photography manipulation in recent years, the discussion about what claims the medium has to objective validity is still as interesting as ever. Performance artists such as Saint Orlan and Cindy Sherman have taken advantage of this in their work, exploring performativity through photography. Ulman’s performance was the next generation in

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their line of work, honing in on the social media platforms we now use to display parts of our lives.

4. Literature review

In this chapter I aim to shed light on earlier research within the field, to further

contextualize the thesis. I will divide the articles into themes to give the reader a better understanding of how they relate to each other, as well as how they relate to this thesis and where it is positioned within the field.

4.1 Influencer labour

In the article ​ Picturing luxury, producing value: The cultural labour of social media brand

influencers in South Africa (2019)​, Mehita Iquani analyses how influencers build their

online identity by associating themselves with brands through endorsements and partnerships. She reveals that as a young influencer, there is a fine line between self-empowerment and the risk of exploitation by brands with commercial power. Simultaneously as an influencer may craft and broadcast their own identity, Iquani asserts that the context of advertising and brand endorsement that surrounds their work also limits them (2019:234). She argues that “this results in a culture in which young people ask less who they are and more how they can sell themselves” (ibid.).

Many social media users do everything they can to imitate an aesthetic in their photos similar to that of celebrities and the commercial media, in order to generate the status they need to catch the eye of high end-brands. They produce large amounts of free promotional content for brands in the hopes of becoming an actual representative, although very few make the cut to becoming one. These influencers are working to build their own brand by associating themselves with companies whose brand image they find compatible to their own (Iquani, 2019:239). In Iquani’s study the Instagram partnerships analysed are from luxury brands, and she finds that the more elite the products advertised are, the more likely it is that the influencer mirrors consumer desires in their followers - leading to a larger following and more attention from similar brands. This seems to be a circle strategy that can become key for the success of certain

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influencers and that plays a major role in how they self-express in their own digital channels.

A similar perspective is found in the article ​A Shoppable Life: Performance, Selfhood, and

Influence in the Social Media Storefront (2019)​ by Emily Hund and Lee McGuigan. They

frame how commercialization of self-presentation online is a response to the increasing union of social media and commerce, appropriately naming it the “influencer economy” (Hund & McGuigan, 2019:18-35). Just like Iquani does in her research, they conclude that the influencer’s role in this economy is to produce “authentic” portrayals of desirable lifestyles. Everything made for the marketers that pay them, directed to​ ​the individuals who follow them. By surrounding this content with tools and links for easy access to the products for sale, a “shoppable life” is created. Hund & McGuigan finds that this structure takes advantage of not only the labour of the social media user who tries to build their own brand, but also of the leisure of the individual follower; whose consumer desires are presented to them in an immediately buyable form within a setting where their intention usually is not to shop. The influencer is stuck in a battle between individual self-expression and the logic of the shoppable life, pulling them into a form of cultural labour that has them conforming to the gatekeepers of profit

potential: marketers, publishers, and talent agencies. The article finds that this struggle can give rise to great emotional stress, as prestige and integrity may be weighed against each other as social media influencers work to finance their careers (ibid.).

Influencer labour draws on a history of lifestyle advocacy, especially by women. In

Selling Women’s History: packaging feminism in twentieth-century American popular culture,​ Emily Westkaemper reflects over the way women have connected and

disconnected to cultural archetypes of femininity in media through the ages. Long before the advent social media; advertising media such as women’s magazines, product packaging, and store displays were examples of this during the nineteenth century (Westkaemper, 2017:1, 2). During the twentieth century, dominant gender ideals such as the importance of the domestic realm to female identity were romanticised and overrepresented in western media concerning and directed at women (ibid.). From radio airwaves to newspaper advertising, the ideals used within consumer culture to sell products have been based on the connection between identity and consumption, as a product needs to be filled with meaning to appeal to people (Westkaemper,

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2017:136). An example is an American women's’ advertising club that used archived historical advertisements as content for a campaign, and combined a focus on the contribution of women to the advertising business with narratives about the advancement of their nation. They were selling the lifestyle of a then-modern

businesswoman, defining her as independent yet in a state of eternal self-sacrificing servitude to her nation (a.a.:162). Everything, Westkaemper asserts, to appeal to a wider patriotic public. This historical advertising and the influencing of today seem to have in common the pursuit of authenticity in their messages about lifestyle, which provides a useful historical perspective on the same theme in Ulman’s performance.

Hund & McGuigan’s and Iquani’s conclusions are interesting in relation to this thesis as they show a critical perspective on the current structure of influencer labour on Instagram. They deconstruct the system behind the flashy images, and reveal a dream factory in which inherent power structures are at play, shaping the influencer’s presentation of self and career. This is something I will bring with me into reflections about Ulman’s view on influencer labour.

4.2 Modern tropes of femininity

Ever since pop culture phenomenons such as the Spice Girls reinvented girl power in the 90’s, a new mode of thinking about femininity that embraces both feminist and anti-feminist values has come to life (Bae, 2012:28-29). ​This mode is the postfeminist conceptualization of girl power, which has been criticized by scholars for being focused on consumerism, external beauty, and heterosexuality, and presenting it as the road to liberation and freedom for women (a.a.:30-31). It is a contradictory ideology -

traditional calls for equality are by postfeminism met with both appraisal and rejection. It presents the empowerment of women as something essentially tied to sexuality and physical appearance, but also to feminist ideas of economic success, education,

individuality, and freedom of choice (a.a.:36, 37). It is also heavily commercialized as a concept, being treated as a buyable aesthetic to be switched on and off like a lightbulb rather than as a set of values (Abidin & Gwynne, 2017:404). It has been used to sell products and lifestyles to young women who value their freedom and independence, while urging them to do so within the boundaries of traditional femininity. In this way,

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influencers who use it as a part of their marketing strategies also promote the type of girl power in which confidence lies mainly in consumption (ibid.).

Rachel Faleatua explores in her study ​Insta brand me: Playing with notions of

authenticity​ how a postfeminist context coupled with consumer culture is involved in

how young women think about authenticity in their self-branding online. She scrutinizes the idea that in order for a young woman to establish herself online, she needs to represent her “true and authentic self” to generate closeness and subsequently engagement in her audience; a sentiment that has been questioned by recent research and that she ends up questioning even further (Faleauta, 2019). To define authenticity she adopts the description that Banet-Weiser (2012: 80) uses, as when one is being ‘transparent, without artifice, open to others’. In her interviews with young female social media users, she finds that they all strive for authenticity in a peculiar way. They describe their process of building a brand on Instagram as ​seeming ​to be authentic, but not actually being so. They view it as a strategy to be seen by others in a certain way. For example, if their photographs looks fake or edited they receive criticism from others, so they need to make sure that the one picture they choose out of the 100 ones taken is possible to edit in a “natural” way (ibid.). The authentic image being produced is completely and often painstakingly orchestrated. In contrast to the belief that a confessional strategy that is open and honest about the personal highs and lows one goes through is a recipe for success, the women Faleauta interviews in her study work hard to hide their inner world online. Her research also shows that the interviewees look to potential offline consequences when they produce and handle their content, whether that be staying true to themselves or erasing pictures of past partners to spare their current significant other from seeing them.

In the article​ How gender-stereotypical are selfies? A content analysis and comparison

with magazine adverts,​ Döring, Reifl, & Poeschl (2015) investigate how common gender

stereotyping was in self portraits on Instagram in 2015. In a content analysis of 500 selfies on the platform they explore tendencies among men and women to use gender stereotypes in their self-presentation online. The initial assumptions made were that in finally achieving the power to create our own self-representations and publishing them online, people would stray from the harsh limitations of traditional femininity and masculinity. A democratic medium would give the opportunity to express aspects of the

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self that differ from the normative set of rules found in magazine advertising and other mass media. Their results, however, showed a clear opposite to this theory (a.a.: 961). With the support of categorizations used by Goffman (1979) and Kang (1997) such as “feminine” touch (caressing or cradling hand gestures) or ritualization of subordination (continuously portraying someone as weaker than the other), they found that selfies reproduced gender stereotypes in an even higher degree than magazine

advertisements.

Döring, Reifl, & Poeschl (2015:961) looked at mainstream selfies under general hashtags such as “selfie” and “me”, which they admitted may have determined the results as more gender-equal or neutral photos could be found under other more niche hashtags. Just like Faleatua, they saw these Instagram users as striving to meet an ideal to appear attractive to others. In this article they talked less about about

entrepreneurial young women battling commercialization in a postfeminist context, and more about impressionable young internet users imitating the stereotypes they had been exposed to in mainstream media (a.a.:957). This mentality of copying what is attractive and performing it in self-representation online has relevance to this thesis as it gives one explanation to how and why tropes can be reproduced on Instagram. Faletua problematizes perspectives on authenticity and Döring, Reifl, & Poeschl investigates how we construct gender online, and I will keep their conclusions in mind as I analyse how and why Ulman has constructed her images in a certain way. Does she use tropes of femininity in constructing her personas? And when it comes down to it, does it really say something at all about her “inner self”?

4.3 Women and performance art

Danielle Knafo (1996) compares the photographic art of Cindy Sherman to expressions of playful exploration in her paper ​Dressing Up and Other Games of Make-believe: The Function of Play in the Art of Cindy Sherman​. Through her career as an artist, Sherman

used her body as the subject of a massive dress-up game, playing a seemingly infinite number of recognizable or bizarre roles. She “‘plays’ with images appropriated from pop culture (film, television, advertising) and history (art masterpieces), gender stereotypes, myths, fairy tales, dreams, and nightmares” (Knafo, 1996:140). In this chaos of role playing and storytelling, she asks questions about the development of female identity,

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artificiality, sexuality, and self construction. Knafo digs into this with a psychoanalytic touch, and discusses how the freeing process of play can be a way of learning to handle emotions as well as attaining skills such as resolution of conflict, separation, or identity consolidation (a.a.:1996:142). She argues that in Sherman’s artworks, the space created between reality and fantasy is more than an escape or a simple statement that identity is fleeting and nonexistent. Instead she views Sherman’s work as imaginary projections of internal and external reality and identity (a.a.:1996:139-140), and argues that play is a vital state for both children and adults to process our emotions and learn from them. Sherman’s photography becomes an ode to our capacity as humans to embody any role we set our mind to, shaping ourselves after our own ideas, fears and dreams.

In her article Saint Orlan: Ritual as Violent Spectacle and Cultural Criticism​, Alyda

Faber (2002) similarly examines the artistic performance work of the French artist Saint Orlan, who chose to focus much of her career on plastic surgery and beauty ideals. She looked to the representations of idealized female beauty created by men throughout Western art history and then proceeded to model herself after them, in a manner that can be seen as both ritualistic and violent: she recorded and broadcasted each

augmentation surgery to the world, and would allow herself to be put under anaesthesia, but w​ould be completely awake, actively directing or passively

participating in the surgeries and broadcasts. Dancers, music or classical art would sometimes be present in the operating room. Orlan began with widely popular but major surgeries such as breast augmentation, facial reconstruction, and liposuction; but over time begun a transformation that was entirely unique and unconventional. For example, she operated two cheek implants into her forehead as if to imitate horns. Faber describes this as a challenge to the patriarchal need to be in control of female bodies, and a cultural critique against the pain it causes to surrender oneself to a male perception of beauty (Faber, 2002:89). Undergoing these surgeries in such a ritualistic manner can be seen as either succumbing to or rejecting physical ideals, depending on whether you focus on the grotesqueness or the eagerness of it all. Faber asserts that Orlan’s extreme approach to body transformation renders her art a parodic example of the pressure one feels to conform to beauty standards (a.a.:90, 100).

Both Knafo and Faber discuss artists who have used their own bodies and identities in their performance art. Sherman and Orlan contemplate and expose the pressures and

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pains that women’s bodies go through in order to meet western ideals, and the pressure to perform their identities according to set feminine roles. Knafo’s focus on play and Faber’s discussion of parody go hand in hand, and make us see the artworks as something freeing, humorous, almost de-dramatized. The artists’ determination to expose the many dark and uncomfortable layers beneath femme-fatale, plastic surfaces, stands in stark contrast to the extreme ways in which they do conform to patriarchal ideals through their performances. These conclusions are relevant to this thesis as they remind us that female performance artists through history have tackled issues of body and identity construction. They show two perspectives on how female performance artists can be seen as reproducing and breaking traditionally feminine roles, which is something that I will bring with me into reflections about the similar means and message of Ulman’s performance.

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5. Theoretical perspective

The theoretical perspective is what ties the thesis together, and functions as the lens I use to look at the material during the analysis. This chapter will summarize the theories and terminology I have chosen to apply, and will position the thesis within the research field.

5.1 Performativity

When looking at the way Ulman uses portraiture as self-representation, terms

concerning the shaping of identity are of relevance to orientate ourselves. Goffmann’s (1959) views on self-presentation and identity will be useful in looking at and

understanding Ulman’s views on the same theme. Goffman builds his theory of performativity on the premise that there is no authentic, underlying self beneath the performances we give every day (a.a.:26.). He states that everyone plays a role more or less consciously at all times, and that they are what we define both ourselves and others by. The self, in short, is a constant performance shaped by the social norms embedded within our culture (a.a.:39). When we act in relation to others, we will adjust our manner to suit the situation and to give the preferred impression to those around us. Goffman does not see this as a fraudulent trait, but rather as the natural way in which our performance is socialised to fit into the society it is expressed in. This is how we create idealised versions of ourselves to appear to others in the way we want in

different situations, and Goffman calls it ​dramatic realisation​ (a.a.37). It is the effort we put into upholding a certain role, like the Instagram influencer who spends copious amounts of time and money on distinguishing themselves from others on social media, concerning everything from how they dress, speak, eat, and travel. Goffman is therefore not concerned with notions of the authentic self and the facades we use to hide it; in his sense, the self is in fact the facade.

We could exemplify this further by describing a common occurence on social media, which is to have multiple accounts. One may have a personal account where one is connected to real life friends, family and perhaps coworkers, and an account which is anonymous or separated from the other one. The second account is used as a space to

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connect with other people or content than the first one, and to project a different tone and personality. Perhaps it is even kept a secret from friends and family. In Goffman’s view, neither of these two roles may be untrue (a.a.49).

In a similar fashion, the work of Butler (1990) adapts the idea that identity is not an essential truth. She focuses on the difference between gender and biological sex, and famously argued that gender is a social and cultural construct with attributes that we adopt as we grow up (Butler, 1990:56). Although feminist theory traditionally has been used to enhance and increase the representation of women, using this sex/gender distinction as to critique science and essentialism brought feminist scholars to question what a “woman” actually is (Bromseth et. al.:2009:189). Butler tackles this in her book

Gender Trouble​, and points out that if feminist research hones in on a subject in order to

liberate it, this set standard wrongly excludes anyone who does not count as the subject (Butler, 1990:54). She sees gender as something that permeates discourses of class, sexuality, and ethnicity alike, and that can be understood only in the light of the

discourse it is constructed in. This is an idea that has importance to my analysis since I will be looking at tropes of femininity that can be found in Amalia Ulman’s artwork.

The woman as a subject is a concept that has been broadened since Butler questioned it in the early 90’s, and in this thesis I will be using the term “woman” to refer to anyone who identifies as a woman regardless of class, ethnicity, or biological sex. Butler’s view on gender and Goffman’s view on identity are built on the same premise of performativity theory. Identities are performed, and gender is “done” by reproducing performative gender attributes; an incessant repetition of roles that

eventually makes us believe that they are an essential truth (Butler, 1990:220, Goffman, 1959:26-27). This reproduction of roles is something that takes place on Instagram today as much as anywhere else, since representations of women online can be seen as performative. It is therefore an important factor to take into account in this thesis.

5.2 Representation

Since the analysis focuses on Amalia Ulman’s representations of internet tropes, the concept of representation is important to define. When we want to understand this concept, we may turn to the simplest definition established by Stuart Hall, which is “creating meaning through language” (Hall, 2013:2). He draws from constructivist

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theory in his view that meaning is something entirely fleeting, and that representation is a way for people to create meaning and refer to everything that the world contains, real or imagined.

The two processes involved in representation according to Hall is a ​conceptual map and a ​language​ (a.a.:3-4). The conceptual map consists of the mental representations in our minds, that we use to understand and refer to the world around us; it is the concept of a tree, of love, of conflict or of morning coffee. When two people have different

conceptual maps they have no way of understanding each other’s thoughts about the world, since their interpretations aren’t similar enough. The second and just as

important part of the process is language - to understand each other, we must translate concepts into words, sounds, gestures, or images that we can all read. Language is the

sign​, the representation of the concept we carry around in our minds. We need the

conceptual map that connects the dog in an image to the concept of a dog in real life, and perhaps a visual language that resembles the dog somehow.

This constructionist take on representation also involves differentiation. This is the aspect of meaning that depends on defining what something ​is not​, as well as what it is (Hall, 1997:234). This is deeply rooted in the linguistic tradition and constructionist thought. It means that the meaning of “dog” wouldn’t exist unless we also knew that it is not the same as “cat” or “duck”, since there is no essence in “dog” that defines it on its own. Meaning is therefore seen as an arbitrary, interdependent system. As the analysis in this thesis will concern tropes, differentiation plays an important part. the

representational practice called “stereotyping” (Hall, 1997:225) has everything to do with the representation of difference, and is important to understand in relation to tropes. Things and people who deviate from the norm are often represented by binary opposites - good/bad, attractive/repulsive, natural/artificial. These are extreme

simplifications that reduces something we don’t quite understand to what we see as its natural “essence” - as women have so often been represented as passive, for example. Stereotyping is about this reductionist way of establishing meaning, that enables us to see the world in an over-simplified way. Some researchers say that very few binary opposites are neutral, as one is often the weaker or negatively connoted one (a.a.:235). This simplification becomes the inescapable truth when it is reproduced for long enough (a.a.:245), and is a node in the creation and reinforcement of power structures

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in society. Media images play a big part in this as representations of the stereotypes we know in our respective cultures.

Two people from different cultures might have completely different conceptual maps, regardless of whether they share a language or not; something Hall points out in relation to the constructed nature of meaning (a.a.:5, 21). There is nothing that connects the word “dog” to the actual animal, other than the meaning we have ascribed it; the meaning is not inherently found in an object or word or event as they are all part of a system of representation that we have built. This is also a part of the theoretical

foundation of this thesis. When interpreting Ulman’s images from her performance, it is important to keep in mind that a certain meaning may not have been the same in a different time, place, or cultural context.

5.3 Instagram photography and cultural myths

The photograph has a complicated history with associations of authenticity. This is because a photograph invites us to believe in the assumption that what is depicted did exist at the moment of capture (Sontag, 2008:5, 6). Regardless of the limitations or artistic distortion that takes place, the photograph seems innocent in its documentation of visual elements. In reality, photographs share similarities with other visual modes of expression, such as drawing or even a written article, in the sense that it is an

interpretation, steered by its producer’s perspective and its own technological context (a.a.:7). Sontag was early in theorizing the reason for the popularization of photography, as she pointed out its tendency of shaping experience:

“A way of certifying experience, taking photographs is also a way of refusing it - by limiting experience to a search for the photogenic, by converting experience into an image, a souvenir” (Sontag, 2008:9).

She argues that it can give people a sense of possession over a situation or space, as evidence that something actually took place, giving the event a reassuring authenticity. In this era of cameraphones and Instagram feeds, this topic is discussed as much as ever by social media users and media scholars alike. This is interesting in relation to that regardless of how aware we are of the work that goes into representations online, the photograph represents a certain measure of reality in our eyes.

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A way of understanding what the “reality” presented in photographs is rooted in is to look at theories of archetypes and myth. The semiotician Roland Barthes’ (1982:94) influential theory is that myth can be seen as a way of simplifying reality. As a

connotation rooted in history that is reproduced so frequently and extensively that it becomes seen as a factual truth, it is often treated like a denotation. These could be the deeply ingrained ideas that connect femininity to softness, and masculinity to harshness in western society. Barthes suggests that these myths are layers of meaning added to matter over the course of time, and that none are evolved from the actual nature of things (1982:132). There is nothing that is inevitably connected to its myth, not even “woman”, this concept that has been so closely attached to concepts such as sexuality and suggestiveness through history.

Myths are simple and easy for us to reach for when we try to represent something or someone through photography as well as other mediums. This will be a crucial part of deciphering the deeper meanings and ideologies present in the photography of Amalia Ulman.

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6. Method and material

This chapter will go into detail about the method of this thesis. The method is the tool I have chosen to structurally approach the analysis and the chapter will also explain how it will be applied in practice, and what strengths and weaknesses the particular method has. The data sample of the thesis and how it was collected will also be introduced.

6.1 Semiotic analysis

Since the aim of my thesis is to analyze the essential element of communication on Instagram – images – I chose to use the method of qualitative semiotic analysis, based on the model of Ferdinand de Saussure. Qualitative semiotic analysis aims to discover which meanings we ascribe to visual communication, both the meaning we find in plain sight, and the underlying layers that we don’t necessarily reflect on in everyday life. It builds on an understanding of the structural relationship between signs, people, and objects, also called signification (​Fiske & Jenkins, 2011:41). In the analysis it allows me to discover deeper meanings in both the symbolic contents and the context of Ulman’s images.

Qualitative semiotics is a method based in the tradition of linguistics, and it has a firm basis in structuralist theory (Sangster, 2013:182). Centered around the linguistic sign as a cognitive construct, the semiotic method sees language as a structure of understanding, from which all definitions are built. This relates it to structuralism, which essentially views social worlds as produced and reproduced by its inhabitants, and social actors as capable and knowledgeable within the structures of their social practices (Blaike, 2009:160-161). Tying them together is rejection of the idea of an “objective truth”, and the sentiment that social reality is pre-interpreted.

Also compatible with this method is the hermenuetical approach, which structuralism partly draws from. It is based on the premise that humans can’t be objective enough to step away from our social world and historical context, and that interpretation is our best and only tool. It argues:

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“The social world should be understood on its own terms in the same manner as its participants understand it, from the inside as it were, not from some outside position occupied by an expert.” (Blaike, 2009:124).

In a sense, hermeneutics as well as structuralism can be seen as “context is

everything”-approaches, embracing the notion that different interpreters at different times are likely to produce different understandings. This is compatible with semiotics, with which we take the context around an image into account when forming an

interpretation of it, while also acknowledging that our own life-world and preconceived notions matter.

Ferdinand de Saussure coined the terms ​signifier​ and ​signified​, that separate a material form from its different possible meanings - this could be an image, an object, a sensation, or an action - anything that carries meaning. The ​signifier​ is simply what we see or hear, it is the image, shape or sound. Let us use the word “dog” as an example of a signifier. It consists of the letters “d-o-g” and has us thinking of a four-legged animal that people often have as a pet. The ​signified​, then, is the mental concept of “dog”, the

meaning that we extract from it (Fiske, John & Jenkins, Henry, 2011:41-42).Together they form a sign, which according to this model is the basis for all human

communication.

Figure 1. Saussures model of the sign (Chandler, 2017:13).

Saussure was a firm believer in the viewpoint that meaning is a construction,

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sign’s physical form, and although this view has been criticized for denying a reality outside of structuralist systems (Barthes, 1982:96), it is a viewpoint that is helpful to my thesis. It sets the premise that meaning must be interpreted, and reinvented over time, as it is never absolute. Saussure’s semiotic method encompasses the notion of visual analysis while allowing the reader of the signs an active role in this way. This aspect of the method lets us acknowledge our own subjectivity in how we construct our social reality, which is relevant to this thesis since it is looking to understand the

constructed concepts presented in Ulman’s work.

6.2 Realization

In the analysis I will focus on the two useful terms ​denotation​ and ​connotation​.

Denotation is used within in the semiotic method to describe the most obvious features of what an image is depicting, and connotation is used to extract the broader meanings tied to cultural beliefs, ideologies and value systems (Hall, 2013:23). Although one can argue that denotation is not truly descriptive, as the relationship between the signifier and the signified is never set in stone, the denotation is the meaning that most people would agree on (ibid.). It could be stating that an image depicts “a pink skirt”, or “a hoodie”. To understand connotations, we need knowledge of the cultural context that surrounds the sign we’re looking at, the map of shared meaning that we have in common with other people. This could be meanings such as “innocence”, “softness”, “informality”, or “roughness”, and in the case of Amalia Ulman’s images, it would require that we know about her background, about the internet culture she is depicting, about what she writes in her captions, and so on. These meanings are created and reproduced within the social sphere of a culture and will not be the same for everyone, since how we interpret the world differs depending on where and when we grew up (Hall, 1997:21, 22). The meanings that I read from an image may not be the same ones that the photographer would read, which I will keep in mind for the analysis.

In order to analyze the images, I need an analytical structure to follow. I decided to use the example of Hansen & Machin (2013:175), who recommend asking the images a set of denotational and connotational questions. In and surrounding an image there are many things we need to consider in order to interpret its meaning and decipher why

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this interpretation comes about in the first place. These questions will make up the basis for the denotation, to rule out how the image has been constructed visually:

● What pose does the person in the image take?

● How is the object of the image relating to the viewer? ● What colors are present in the image?

● How is the lighting in the image?

● What environment do we see in the image?

The connotation will lead us to understand deeper meanings, and will consist of the following questions:

● Which possible representations of tropes are present in the images? ● How can the images be understood from the perspective of theoretical

perspectives on performativity, representation, and myth? ● What does the caption add to the meaning of the image?

These questions are crucial in getting closer to understanding the values and beliefs that are drawn upon in the images. Apart from this method by Hansen & Machin, I also used the critical approach recommended by Rose (2000:15-16) as a guideline in order to critically meet all aspects of the analysis, including the images in themselves, their context, and myself as a viewer. She means that:

An image may have its own visual effects, these effects, through the ways of seeing mobilized by the image, are crucial in the production and

reproduction of visions of social difference, but these effects always intersect with the social context of its viewing and the visualities its spectators bring to their viewing.” (Rose, 2000:15).

This approach will help me see the ways in which Ulman performs roles with various social differences, as well as my own influence on the interpretation of them.

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6.3 Strengths and weaknesses of the method

The weaknesses of the semiotic method are mainly in its subjective nature. A researcher needs to be aware that there is no true objectivity in this kind of interpretation, and a certain amount of their own assumptions and values will always be present in the analysis (Chandler, 2017). What is important is therefore to be self-reflective and

distinguish these factors as best as one can in the analysis itself, to ensure the validity of the results (Rose, 2000:28). For example, my own view on ideals of femininity are heavily influenced by the western ideology I am born and raised in, which may impact how I view representations of women online. It is clear that interpretation always includes categorization, which is never neutral.

Using one single method to conduct research is according to Layder (2013) not ultimate. He argues that it gives a constricted result as social processes are inherently complex. This may be true, and I can see that a complementary content analysis or interview would be a great asset to this thesis in order to clarify aspects of the thoughts of the artist or the audience. But when it comes to semiotic analysis, the fact that the result will always be an alternative interpretation of an image can be a strength. As long as I know what constitutes my own perspective, my analysis of an image will be able to tell us many valid things about larger structures in our culture. Though it is impossible to place ourselves outside of our own interpretation, that is what allows us to

understand the society we are a part of. If we were truly objective and unbiased, and stood outside of our own culture and upbringing, we wouldn’t be able to read the codes of meaning that surround an image (Bergström & Boréus, 2012:32). With the concrete denotational and connotational questions recommended by Hansen & Machin (2013), I was able to tackle different levels of context within a structured model, which is

essential in the study of content on social media.

6.4 Sample and material

I chose to look into Amalia Ulman’s artwork since she was a pioneer in the genre of online performance art, criticizing parts of social media use that since 2014 has remained just as relevant. Her performance received heated reactions from her

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New Museum of New York and has been exhibited at venues such as the Tate Modern and the Whitechapel Gallery (Allsop, 2016). I chose to look at a performance on

Instagram since it is an image-focused platform, which to me is very interesting in itself. My sample consists of three images created by Amalia Ulman during her 4-month long performance, posted on the 1st of June, the 8​th​ of July, and the 2nd​ of September

2014. In addition to this I have chosen three screenshots of each “act” or chapter of the performance, to capture the larger context of the Instagram feed. Due to the large amount of content posted during the four month period I had to narrow it down in this way to suit the scope of this thesis. I will also be taking the entirety of the performance and narrative into account as the most direct context surrounding the chosen images, as I conduct the analysis.

My way of sampling resembles the “problem sampling” method described by Layder (2013:121), as it “​is theoretically informed and is designed to uncover information that has conceptual and analytic value, but in itself it is not a theory (or hypothesis) to be tested.” (ibid.). It is designed to provide data relevant to the research questions, and it is that relevance rather than the quantity that will determine the strength of this thesis (Layder, 2013:72).

Figure 2: The three of Amalia Ulman’s Instagram posts from Excellences & Perfections analysed in this thesis.

The whole project is still published on Instagram, as Ulman is using the same account to post her new, later projects. But to avoid this current context surrounding the images, which have since 2014 been flooded with comments and attention from admirers and

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critics of the project, I have chosen to analyze the version archived by Rhizome (2014), an online digital art and culture library which is a part of the New Museum in New York. They have archived a replica of the Instagram page as it looked on the last day of the four-month project, complete with old Instagram interface, like count and comments.

Figure 3: The three screenshots of the Instagram feed of Excellences & Perfections analysed in this thesis.

6.5 Ethical Considerations

The ethical issues related to the use of semiotic analysis are quite general ones, applicable to almost any method within the media & communications field. On the subject of informed consent, one could note that an individual whose images are a part of a thesis like this should be informed of the purpose of the research and its

consequences, and give their permission (Somekh & Lewin, 2004). Despite the fact that Ulman shares images of her own body that some would consider sensitive and intimate, she does so in the purpose of publicity. Thus, in the case of a professional artist whose images are a part of a public art project, this point is not as urgent as if the individual was a private person posting about their life, as it does not pose any risk of invading

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personal privacy. This risk is more applicable to this thesis when it comes to including Instagram comments, especially if the username is included. A researcher must take into account that warning participants of possible outcomes so that they can give consent is crucial for both the researcher’s and the participant’s safety, especially if names are being used (ibid.). How much anonymity that can or should be granted to those observed is therefore an important consideration when it comes to including Instagram comments in this analysis. This is why I have chosen to blur out the usernames and profile pictures of the commenters as to ensure their anonymity.

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7. Results and analysis

This chapter will present the analysis of my empirical material and the results gathered from it. I will tie together the method and theory to approach the material and answer the research questions as thoroughly as possible. Each image will be analysed

individually in combination with its corresponding screenshot of the Instagram feed, and at last I will conclude with a comparative analysis of the results.

7.1 The Pastel Babe

Figure 4: A post from act 1 of Excellences & Perfections

In the doorway of a bright white bathroom stands a woman, appearing to be taking a selfie in the bathroom mirror. Her head is tilted upward with a coquette smile, her gaze directed at the screen of her phone. Her left hand is resting behind her head in a classic selfie pose.

This is an image of Ulman in the first act of her performance. In the caption she announces which clothing brand she is wearing, and proceeds to give her followers a discount code based on her own name, indicating that it is a sponsored post. As Iquani (2019:239) argues, this is a way to establish oneself as an influencer on Instagram, and

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a part of working to build a personal brand by associating oneself with companies whose image is compatible with one’s own. Ulman is doing exactly this. It can be seen as a status symbol in the Instagram context; as it can mean that she is influential enough to be paid by a brand to sell their product and that she has an audience that will trust her recommendation. The outfit is a pink frilled skirt, a t-shirt with the text “pretty please”, and a white flower headband. The innocent character being portrayed in this image is completed by the fact that the caption is strewn with exclamation marks and the playful smiley “^.^”.

Behind her we can glimpse a pale pink bedroom, making the image a perfectly color coordinated Instagram post. The colors and lighting are bright, white, green and pink. The persona being portrayed here is a classic so-called Instagram babe, embracing the “cutesy” aesthetic from top to toe in order to appeal to their followers online, gain notoriety and market products as an influencer. It is one of many modern-day female tropes springing forth from internet culture and is perfected in this image. Seeing it through the eyes of Butler (1990), there is no “gender trouble” present, as the appearance and manner of Ulman is normative. The coy pose and light makeup, the pastel clothing, long blonde locks and perceived lack of body hair fits into current western ideals of femininity. There does not seem to be an obvious filter applied on the image, which also renders it “natural”, making Ulman appear “natural” as a result. Every aspect of how she is presenting herself can be tied to connotations of softness or

innocence – the text on the t-shirt, the faux flowers in her hair, even the homely environment.

Whether it is a hotel room or private home, the innocence of the character being displayed is reinforced by the crisp interior. Had it been adorned with sultry red velvet, dark wallpapers and colored lights, would the connotation still have been the same? Probably not. It is also relevant that we as viewers are being invited to a private sphere. Seeing the messy sheets, a toppled over makeup bottle, and towel and hairbrush

unceremoniously piled on a shelf, makes us feel as though the selfie was more or less spontaneously taken, as if it is truly a glimpse into the regular life of Ulman. It is inviting us to believe in its authenticity in this way (Sontag, 2008:5, 6).

The sphere of the home is one that has been connected to femininity and womanhood through the ages, a stereotypical connection that has been and still is

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reinforced today (Drobnic & Treas, 2010:4, 241, Fagerström & Nilson, 2008:50–51). The home being associated with safety and comfort, it further softens Ulman’s harmless persona in the image. She is homely, unthreatening and jovial.

Figure 5: A part of the feed from act 1 of Excellences & Perfections

In this screenshot we see a number of images from act one of the performance. Milky whites are mixed with pastels like pink, red, and purple. The environment of the “home” is recurring as we see Ulman alone by a couch, a bed, a dining table, or a window.

Lingerie and white clothing is accompanied by fluffy bunnies, flowers and sugary desserts. Every detail in these images can be connoted to “cuteness” and traditionally feminine qualities such as softness or sweetness. Ulman is performing the trope of a young woman playing on childish femininity, simultaneously innocent and sexualised. It is a character that can be tied to of myths with roots in western history and religion surrounding the “virgin” and the “prostitute”. In Ulman’s images, these signs that can be seen as connoting purity and promiscuity creates a mixture of taboo sexuality.

She is not represented in a way that shows her having power to effect or change her environment. She is not actively doing anything, but merely existing - posing for the camera and lounging. This is something which is common in photography portraying women (Hansen & Machin, 2013:195, 196), who are most often shown performing behaviors that don’t have any material results. Building, painting, mending or breaking

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something does change the material world, for example. Instead they are shown as involved in events without really changing anything, or as simply having emotions. This is problematic as it is a reproduction of representations that paint a picture of what women are and are not supposed to be. It can be tied to old patriarchal ideals of female submissiveness and passivity, which have become myth as people seek and reproduce them when they want to convey meaning concerning women. On the internet, this pastel aesthetic has been popularized on platforms such as Tumblr and Pinterest since the early 2000’s and is still alive and well there and in certain corners of Instagram - for example under the hashtag ​#pastelgirl​ which has circa 160 000 posts and counting (Instagram, 2019).

As a researcher who can see the context of the art project ​Excellences & Perfections around the images in this screenshot, they are a node in a critical narrative around social media use and stereotyping of women online. Ulman is performing and

representing a certain type of passive feminine myth in this first act of the performance, which we still see being reproduced on Instagram by thousands of people every day, although time has altered it slightly. As the performance continues, she moves in and out of three different “Instagram babe”-tropes, which are all representations of some of the most common ideals on the platform.

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Figure 6: A post from act 2 of Excellences & Perfections

In the second act of the narrative we see Ulman transform into a new character – she goes through a breakup with her boyfriend, becomes an escort, and changes her style to a hip-hop influenced one (Rhizome, 2014). The phone case is covered in rhinestones instead of the sleek white one present in act 1. She writes in the caption about her fitness goal and her tonality is harsh as she hashtags “#work #it #bitch”. This change marks the moment of the story when the provincial girl who moved to the big city starts to reconstruct her identity and chase a new lifestyle.

The colours are beige, black, and brown; gone are the pastels and cute smiley faces in the captions. Here she represents herself as a spinoff on the urban aesthetic

popularised by celebrities like Kim Kardashian. This trope is constantly evolving and being renamed as every trend is, but the closest we can come to a defining term today is “instagram baddie”, describing the online “it-girl” with a similar style. These can all be seen as tools she uses to portray fierceness in different ways - with darker colours, themes, settings and words she transforms into a troubled and hardened persona, whose mind circulates around appearance and status. Going back to the reasoning of Sontag (2008:5, 6) on the photograph being seen as a representation of reality, a body in a photograph can be seen as ultimately available, as the medium itself does not pose much of a hindrance to our interpretation. The technological context surrounding Ulman’s image also brings the viewer closer to the subject, as it is mainly viewed privately on the screen of a smartphone as Instagram is a mobile app. These elements makes us feel close to the person portrayed, adding to the authentic feeling of the image. What makes Ulman less available to us here is the hiding of her eyes behind the cap - we have no eye contact, and it seems as though she is looking at herself on the screen rather than at the viewer. This gives way to the impression that we don’t quite reach her or that she is hiding something from us as she simultaneously pulls up her shirt and reveals the bare skin underneath it. This pose is easily interpreted as suggestive, which in combination with the hidden eyes becomes a confident but mysterious flaunting of her fitness progress.

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Figure 7: A part of the feed from act 2 of Excellences & Perfections

As we look through the feed, we see her hide or leave out her face on several occasions. This can signify the distancing of herself from the viewer, not necessarily out of a newfound shyness, but as a form of subtle isolation as she drifts away into the stressful chase for the LA socialite lifestyle. It can also be seen as a form of self objectification, since when we crop out the face, the body suddenly lacks a vital element of personality and identification. It exists in a vortex, could belong to any identity, and can even more easily be seen as existing only for the visual pleasure of the viewer as it is almost dehumanized.

In the feed, images with angry texts about money and betrayal are mixed with hearty meals, sports attire, luxury brands, and continuously sexualised images of herself. Just as Faber (2002:89) describes the work of Saint Orlan as challenging of the patriarchal gaze on female bodies and the pain inflicted by its consequences, Ulman problematizes the search of self worth through the male gaze in this act. The attempted dramatic realisation (Goffman, 1959:37) of her character, struggling to align her outer appearance to the inner self she wishes to portray, spirals her into an apparent

depression. Ulman undergoes staged and real plastic surgery during this act, a faked breast augmentation and facial fillers carried out in real life. We can easily see this portrayal of obsessive behavior and longing to fulfil a certain beauty ideal as Ulman

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criticizing the violence of beauty procedures. Her cheerful tone when posting about the surgeries is trivializing, speaking nothing of physical or mental discomfort as if the pain inflicted is natural and to be taken for granted. A woman who goes under the knife is surrounded by myth - she can be seen as an insecure victim to the pressure of social conventions, or as a vain spokesperson of self empowerment through conforming to beauty ideals. She could be viewed as both sexually empowered and as objectified. Her body is being presented as the main asset of her digital labour, as the product at the forefront of her personal Instagram brand (Abidine & Gwynne, 2017:399). As a performance artist, Ulman is a subject carrying out the act - at the same time as her body is an object being used as a tool to convey meaning. In the words of Rozsa Farkas:

“Presence is the value-form of performance, initially a symbol for its ‘realness’, for its actuality, for the work of art as a performance piece as a non-passive, ephemeral thing or state” (2018:6).

In her images, Ulman makes this validating presence virtual, and although performance art has arguably been tied to realness and the hands-on experience of bodies and objects in the here and now(a.a.), Ulman flips the coin so that it is suddenly about unreality. For her it is the act of showing all, but revealing nothing. She taps into classic myths about women that she applies to herself and repeats on Instagram until they become truth in the eyes of the beholder, who believes in them because they’ve heard them so many times before. She is sustaining these beloved myths which we use to organize our reality, confirming people’s ideas of how she should be to gain their approval. Just as Döring, Reifl, & Poeschl (2015:961) found that young social media users reproduce and perform stereotypical self-representation they find attractive, Ulman found it to be the perfect recipe to gain attention on the platform in 2014.

By the end of act 2, Ulman changes her hair colour to dark brown and writes that she goes back to “natural” since she is tired of people perceiving her as a dumb blonde (Rhizome, 2014b). Using the word “natural” signals a desire for expressing a truthful inner self through her appearance, after feeling misrepresented and wrongfully attacked by others. Blonde hair can be connoted to innocence, light, or as she says; to the stereotyped character of an unintelligent or superficial person. In changing her appearance she underlines the qualities of her rebelling character, who is now

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unsmiling and serious, darker, and less childlike. She is also slowly approaching her character’s inevitable fall from grace. Ulman stages a breakdown and posts tired,

dark-looking selfies, videos of herself crying, an image of cocaine on a glass slate, and an image of herself holding a gun before disappearing from social media for a week and returning with an apology for her behaviour. This breakdown is the ultimate

showcasing of the “hysterical woman” trope, it is the story that the western world have heard time and time again about celebrities such as Britney Spears, Amanda Bynes, Lindsay Lohan - or more historically, Marie Antoinette. A privileged white “it-girl” who is looked up to and idolized in one moment, faces the public and messy consequences of her “narcissism” in the next when the strain of being scrutinized and judged by the masses takes its toll. Whether she is pitied or ridiculed, the spectacle that becomes of a public breakdown is accentuated on social media, where vicious commenters and trolls thrive under their semi-anonymity. The signs of a contemporary internet controversy are all there: decadence, public malice and loyal defendants battling in the comment sections, and an apology to the audience as though her followers have been personally affected by her behavior.

7.3 The Yogini

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After apologizing publicly, Ulman returns to social media having moved back to her family home. She is suddenly embarking on a spiritual journey, doing another u-turn as she moves into a character inspired by Gwyneth Paltrow and her blog Goop (Sooke, 2014). Now she goes to yoga classes, posts about interior design, avocado toast, and travels to European spas. In the image above we see her sit in a classic lotus pose in sports or yoga attire, and her tonality is that of a health guru – “#mindful”, “#gratitude”, and “#namaste”. This is a continuation of the narrative of going back to a “natural” self, which has resided within her during all this time and been clouded by misjudgement and insecurity. In the constructivist views of Butler (1990:56) and Goffman (1959:26), this natural self is yet another fabricated mask, and in the context of the performance narrative this is so painstakingly obvious that Ulman’s followers question its

truthfulness. “Is dis real? Sooooo confused?” one of them proclaims in the comments, thrown off by the quick turns of Ulman’s reinvention of self.

The environment in this image could be a home or hotel room, but it is starkly different than the ones depicted in act 1. The colours are brown and earthy which can signal warmth and groundedness. There is minimalistic artwork on the wall and a colorful cover on the bed. In the caption, Ulman writes that she is meditating after a long day of work, and we are hit by the change of attitude from the last act, in which she posted wads of cash from her job as an escort and citations such as “If you don’t pay my bills [be quiet]”. Although we cannot tell what her new occupation is from the image from act 3, we can assume that she has not returned to escorting as she seems to be “rehabilitated” from her past lifestyle. This incites a discussion about work and attitudes towards different kinds of labour. Ulman was first portraying a hopeful aspiring model with clothing brand sponsorships, slightly narcissistic and loveable. Then, an instagram baddie and aspiring LA socialite who earns money from escorting, a lifestyle choice that accompanies her into substance abuse and mental breakdown. And next, a girl next door who takes a meditation break after a “hard day of work”, signaling stability and good work ethic. It is clear that the types of work discussed are saturated with

connotations of positive and negative nature. It is also a critique on the way that digital labour is invisible behind a curtain of polished content. Some of the labour, including the act of posting, is visible; but the narrative between the images that is not shared

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remains invisible. This invisible work is what is required to present the performative image that we see as the end result, and it is downplayed by a facade of effortlessness.

Looking more closely at the pose in the image, Ulman’s face is turned toward the window where the light is coming in, and her eyes are closed. It is as though she is enjoying the feeling of sunlight on her face, and it is an open pose; she is gazing into the light while also being focused on her inner world, like a premonition of a brighter future.

Figure 9: A part of the feed from act 3 of Excellences & Perfections

There is an increase of food images in the feed of the third act compared to the second, and as they depict tea, fresh berries and vegetables we can interpret this as a sudden interest in holistic health and wellness. Her earlier aggressive and hurt text posts have been replaced with motivational quotes about gratitude, going hand in hand with the mindfulness-oriented trope of a meditating Instagram yogini. She now ceases to present her body in overtly sexualized ways as she has done during previous acts, and a cropped yoga top is as far as we go when it comes to showing skin. The symbolism of demure unassertiveness replaces that of confident sexuality and self-objectification in a demonstration of inner peace.

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As we look through the feed of act 3, we are suddenly shown something that we haven’t seen since act 1 - other people. Ulman includes an image of her dietician who she is travelling with, working away on her laptop on the bed of a hotel room, and later of her new boyfriend who is caringly standing with an arm around her or sleeping in their bed. The amount of people in an image (or feed) has a big impact on our interpretations of them (Hansen & Machin, 2013:193–194). When we see more than one person who can be categorized as belonging to the same group, such as women, men, artists, or white people, we see them as representations of this general category in a greater extent than if they were depicted alone. They are a group; a collective. When there is another person in frame, what we see is also the representation of a relationship of some sort. In

Ulman’s pictures these relationships now have all the signs of being friendly or even filled with loving care. They are signifiers for a healthy social life and supportive

environment. That is what we can see in the first and last act of the performance, but in the second, the images of people are replaced with selfies. The selfie is a picture taken of oneself, by oneself, and in excess can signal egocentrism. In the case of act 2 it might very well be a signifier for isolation and loneliness, when we regard it in relation to the repeatedly hidden face, the aggressive and hurt texts, and the emotional upheaval that takes place.

7.6 Conclusion

In the words of Goffman (2009:218), people are constantly performing themselves: creating a “presented self” in accordance with who they want to be in the eyes of others. However, the roles we play and our actual self are often perceived as one and the same, and this is amplified in social media use as the content we publish is a controlled

representation of ourselves (ibid.). Ulman presented only what she wanted others to see, with a simple tap on her smartphone. As an internet user, being able to create alternate identities regardless of your gender, race, social class etc. makes your identity “disembodied” and performative (Massa, 2017). Whether there is a true identity within us or if we are simply fashioning our own self into existence as Ulman does with her portrayal is hard to tell. On Instagram, we couldn’t convey the full complexity of our identity even if we broadcasted our lives each second of the day. So as we carefully choose and curate what we share on the platform, it is even less likely that we convey

Figure

Figure 1. Saussures model of the sign (Chandler, 2017:13).
Figure 2: The three of Amalia Ulman’s Instagram posts from Excellences & Perfections analysed in  this thesis
Figure 3: The three screenshots of the Instagram feed of Excellences & Perfections analysed in this  thesis.
Figure 4: A post from act 1 of Excellences & Perfections
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References

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