Selfies are a nearly ubiquitous part of modern society. Even if you spend time in tiny coffee shops and less-used public streets, you likely won’t have to go far to find someone in that characteristic pose: arm stretched in front of them, smiling for the camera in their hand. Images of ourselves have always been a way for humans to communicate identity. But they started further back than you probably suspect.
In fact, many historians posit that the first true selfies were unintentional. The way they gradually evolved over time demonstrates an unbroken chain all the way to today, where photography has changed from a preservation of a past moment to a forward-looking means of communicating with others.
What Is a Selfie, Anyway?
Before we can dive deeper into where selfies came from, we need to be on the same page about what a “selfie” is. In general, the term means a depiction of self, but with some additional caveats. Most people consider selfies to include at least the head and shoulders. While their form has changed over time, this basic attribute tends to remain the same, with a few notable exceptions.
The Very First Selfies
The selfies that started it all are among those exceptions. At the earliest stage of human history, people left indelible evidence that they existed, even if there was no portraiture to capture them. Footprints in the mud, seeing oneself in a reflection and recognizing inherent identity, and more are all intrinsically tied to what makes a selfie what it is today.
The Second Phase
As far back as 32,000 years ago, humans were making handprints in the Chauvet cave. Blowing pigment over their hands created a colored stencil that proved those people were there, present, in that moment. While these are also not selfies in the sense we know them today, they marked a transition toward intentionality. People were now making their mark, showing themselves as individuals.
The second phase of selfie history is broad, ranging all the way up through Egypt (with hand-carved representations of artists and their families) to Van Gogh and the like, who are known for their self-portraits. Other notable contributors at this stage include Jan van Eyck and Judith Leyster. However, these “selfies” had one important differentiator in society: they were for the elite. Few could afford to acquire such art, either because they had to pay for a painter or because they could not dedicate enough of their own time to honing their painting talent.
The Advent of Photos
The invention of photography in the 19th century revolutionized selfies and kicked off their modern development. People began dedicating significant time to capturing their own likeness, such as the 15 minutes Robert Cornelius spent sitting utterly motionless so that his image could be imprinted on a silver-plated copper sheet. This is widely regarded as the first photographic “selfie.”
However, others argue that selfies did not truly arise until people started using mirrors as well. By taking images of themselves while being able to see themselves or with the explicit purpose of posing for their own photo, the selfie as we know it was born.
The Modern Selfie Stereotypes
As these personal pictures started to become more common (but still not the norm), adaptations needed to be made to compensate for cameras that were not created for this function. 1925 marks the first known instance of a selfie stick, and in this case, the name couldn’t be more true: it really was a stick. Because of how cameras worked at the time, someone needed to engage with the camera directly to get it to take a picture. So participants would reach out with a stick or branch.
This prompted the more standardized pose that we now associate with selfies: something (an arm, a stick, etc.) coming into the foreground to touch the camera while the faces lean away. Once this format became more standard, other selfie norms developed. Among them, annoyance; already, people were beginning to tire of tourists such as “Pisa Pushers” (those who posed by the Leaning Tower of Pisa as if they were holding it up) who sported poses in photos meant for themselves with little consideration for the people around them.
When Selfies Became “a Thing”
Selfies were becoming a facet of cultural awareness, but it was Hiromix in 1995 who truly opened the floodgates. This Japanese artist was known for taking tens of thousands of selfies, breaking this photographic genre into the mainstream. In fact, her new approach to photography art was so captivating that people were soon dubbed as suffering from “Hiromix syndrome,” and selfies rocketed toward ubiquity.
As a result, camera producers began to pivot their goals toward cameras that could take immediate, frequent photos. From there, cordless phones began to be fitted with cameras, the invention of the iPhone arrived, and one could say that the rest is history!
How selfies will continue to evolve over time is impossible to predict. What is certain, though, is that humanity is unlikely to stop creating. And creativity means new innovations, and possibly a new transformation of the selfie, in the years to come.
