The status of photography on new media envoriment as an object of consumption society

Today's modern individuals live in a consumerist society along with virtual worlds created by social media. Impositions of consumerist society, and fast development of technology alieantes individuals from real life and connects them to virtual life. Even though it seems distant now, the concept of social media came into our lifes' 20 years ago. Internet made communication easier and thus, social media became essential for society. Furthermore, individuals prefer virtual communication due to the fact that it is easier and sheltering, and this makes getting out of virtual comfort zone even more harder. Self-portrait, which has a lot of examples throughout the history, has also been a field of artistic production since the first years of photography. When self-portrait is in question, an individual's act of sharing her / his own photograph, and mirror herself / himself have artistic concerns. On the other hand, selfies on social media have personal and emotional concerns. Selfies, whose purpose are being liked, being appreciated, and being popular; have become indispensable. Especially the concept of privacy have disappeared, and human body has become a commodity. The first chapter of this study focuses on the desire of consume, and consumerist society; thus previous research has been analyzed via literature review. The second chapter of this study investigates the concepts of new media and social media in terms of historical process. The third chapter makes an in-depth analysis of the concepts of selfie and self-portrait. This study consists of 11 self-portrait works that focus on the relationship between selfie craze and self-portraits, and also selfie of each work and analysis of each photograph.