Caws Radio

black eyed girl.

It seems DeviantArt is chock full of young emo kinds taking emo pictures of themselves in emo poses amidst emo locals. Some guy called saturdayx has accumulated a disgusting amount of fans based entirely on this formula. It's the same kind of glamorously self-deprecating, narcissism-masked-as-irony style that is all too present in Myspace photo galleries. Depressed for success, as I like to call it.



So what are we to make of the Swedish photographer 8032? At first glance she seems to fit the bill of a young, emotionally self-obsessed girl, eager to express her emo-ness through thick eyeliner and short dyed hair. But her work cannot be fully appreciated until you open her gallery and see that her pictures comprise a series of self-portraits, taken almost daily, that are nearly identical from one to the next. Aside from a few earlier, conceptual photos, these snapshots are not concerned with outfits, backdrops, or any kind of context. It's just her face. Over and over again.



What she has done is avoided leaving any trace of emotional imprint on her gallery. 8032 offers no information regarding herself or her photos, only that she is 14 and from Sweden. She has chosen a 4 digit number for herself, and instead of poetic titles hinting at the feeling behind each photograph she gives them names like 6085 and 8.204. Her expression in each photo doesn't lean too far in any particular emotional direction; she smirks in a few, but mostly she just stares at you blankly. Even when her face is flushed and wet from crying, she appears only concerned with getting that neutral, wide-eyed look.



Could 8032's whole gallery be a critique of young photographers presenting the superficial in place of the emotional? Is she pointing out that you can photograph your own face every day and still never capture a glimpse of who you are? Are her photos a testament to the aesthetic power of a pretty young girl, who can attain legions of admirers by simply photographing her face? Could she be the most thought provoking artist I have ever run across on DeviantArt? Or is she just a teenager striving to get that perfect self-portrait?

In any case, her page is more interesting because of its mystery. And maybe she's making the world a better place with her pictures. Oh, look - She changed her hair color.
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