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The Elsie Project
I guess everyone who hasn't been living on Mars for ten years knows what a 'selfie' is, right? Everybody's taking 'em (when they aren't snapping their dinners for some incomprehensible reason). You can buy sticks to extend your reach and get extra people in, to prove how popular you are or which celebs you've met. The Oxford Dictionary folks even declared it their Word of the Year 2013.  Well, let me introduce you to the antidote to the selfie, the Elsie. A recurring theme of my shit, for instance in the Infinite Variety project, is a fascination with the sheer range of people in the world. To me, a stranger is just someone I haven't pissed off yet, a source of endless fascination. Even folks who believe that loving one's self is the most important thing (it isn't) must realise that we only truly exist in the context of the people around us, friends, family and strangers alike. Hence the Elsie. Though the artist appears, if only as a sliver of face or the edge of a pair of spectacles, the subject is the friend or passing acquaintance in the centre field. i.e. Someone else. (Of course the fact that the artist can't stand seeing his own ugly mug too often is utterly irrelevant) Each Elsie is numbered and the name and occupation (or some other identifying point) is given. Now, I hate being defined by an occupation, so you can take this as an ironic comment if you prefer, but in many pics there is an attempt to include a background relevant to the 'sitter'. And if the model can't be identified (because they're a pig or a statue or they just ran off screaming), I'll be calling them Eric or Erica. Why not do your own Elsies? Add them to your facebook feed and/or send them to me at this adress, and I'll probably add a page or two just for them (and add the link here if anyone actually does). Oh, and tell the world about it (use hashtag #Elsies)! Watch a foul-mouthed video of the artist's pome, Word of the Year, 2013 here. And check out the rest of the Lucidity Ltd website. That way madness lies ... |
