Mini-You was a response to the beginnings of Selfie Culture. I’m part of the generation that first used Facebook, when we were 16/17. In the decade that followed, there was such an explosion of putting images of ourselves into the world - often without consideration for who might be looking at them or where they might end up on the world wide web - I found this really interesting and wanted to make a piece responding to it.
In 2014 I received an Artist International Development Award (ACE & British Council) to go to New York. I knew I wanted to do something around the idea of a cultural exchange, something outside a traditional arts space, and was inspired by the selfie culture explosion.
WHAT HAPPENED
I asked 8 volunteers from the UK to supply me with a photo of themselves, which I crafted into Mini-You dolls.
These Mini-You dolls were distributed by me, to strangers in New York complete with a letter and instruction book - instructing them to make a new set of 'selfies' - ones that were not controlled or overseen by their owner.
UK Volunteers then got to see life through the lens of another human being, a stranger from New York.
The photos you see here were all emailed to an email address included in the gift package, see below for what got sent to that email address...see above for the original selfie submissions.
