Self-representation and the disaster event: self-imaging, morality and immortality

Abstract

There's growing interest in the notion of the ‘selfie’ in the digital age. Much of the interest has been making sense of this digital genre pervasive in its manifestation while implicating the individual and hinging on public gaze in digital platforms. As a form of self-representation, the selfie reveals the complex interplay of identity politics and self-curation where the self is amenable to multiple iterations of public gaze. This article, drawing on this complex interplay, inspects a specific phenomenon in this selfie culture where there is a tendency to picture oneself against the scene of trauma or tragedy. The ‘disaster selfie’ or ‘disaster porn’ as a particular genre invokes questions of the moral limit in the objectification and aestheticisation of self. This article explores the moral politics of disaster selfies, the role of the abject and our quest for immortality where these invoke a wider crisis for visuality and image ethics online.