Kim Kardashian's “Selfish” is such a permanent form of self representation although it is heavily steeped in the aesthetics of a culture based on constantly changing and morphing the way one represents themselves to their peers.

I would venture to guess for most people in my demographic, the phrase “falling in love with the idea of her” means falling in love with someone before you really know them. Falling in love with a stream of photographs, one liners, playlists, and other curated ways in which a person can present themselves to the world. As we constantly intake these pseudo personalities, judge them, fall for them, wish we were them, we turn back around and create our own version of ourselves; a well curated “idea” of a person we want to be, or a person that we believe will receive positive feedback. I read an article recently that said when we see the badges from notifications on facebook and instagram they cause our brain to release dopamine. That means that not only are people falling in love with the idea of us, but we are feeling that love full circle. Peering into the shiny black screens that seem to dominate our lives nowadays we become the ultimate narcissists staring at our own reflections. Now more than ever that reflection doesn’t resemble who we are.

In contrast with the infinite abyss that is the internet, a sprawling web of ideas and images, is Selfish. A book which is contradictory in so many ways even down to its size. The dimensions are seemingly small and transportable (somewhere in between your phone and your ipad), but when flipped on its side is found to be incredibly thick and heavy, mimicking a brick. I find this fact to be indicative of the contradictory and controversial content which it contains. At first glance it may seem just as streamlined as any electronic device, but turned on its side you find it has much more depth. The book is a stream of photos and captions similar to what you may see on Instagram of all selfies of Kim Kardashian.

objects or ideas and how these levels impact our society. The level that interests me most is the perception during which a person, place, or thing is yet to have a name or be defined by the mind, or even acknowledged by it, but yet it has a stance and a perceived feeling that comes with it. For whatever reason when Kim Kardashian began to seep her way into my subconscious it was clear that she was a female celebrity presenting herself for the consumption of women. Admired by women, as well as hated, but overall her fandom felt like a girls club. There are countless factors that make this true, but a lot of it has to do with just the thing that makes her so controversial, which is the fact that she is not an actress and she is not a singer. We do not have to see her placed in these roles or age old stereotypes; oversexualized by an incredibly large team of writers, and costume designers. She is presented to us on her own accord. The platform in which she expresses herself are her own self-managed, albeit often highly sexualized, social media accounts. Kim is a woman taking a visual culture at face value, and turning what was originally an invasion of her privacy [the leak of her sex tape] into an empire she has built around being transparent and unashamed.

I have read recently some articles such as, Vice magazine’s “Kim Kardashian West is the Outsider Artist America Deserves” and an article in i-D “Jerry Saltz Thinks Kim Kardashian is Our Generation's Andy Warhol” comparing “Selfish” to artistic, predominately male, self portraiture of the past. When someone creates images of oneself and compiles them into a collection to be published, leaning heavily on aesthetics, and presented as simply images with little to no text, comparisons will be made to artists compiling self portraits. Countless important artists have participated in some form of self portraiture throughout history. One can also look at an artist like Cindy Sherman, who made a name for herself, through self portraits that place her in the exact movie scenes created for women that Kim Kardashian has avoided.