Even though the word “selfie” was only added to the dictionary in 2013, humans have long documented themselves through photographs! We decided to look back through time at how our ancestors documented themselves living in the present, from self-portraits and Polaroids!
1. Venus Figurines
Humans began creating Venus figurines as far back as 30,000 BCE! Most depict women with exaggerated feminine features. No one knows for certain why these figures were created, though one theory suggests they might have been self-portraits created as self-portraits resembling how women perceive their own bodies when gazing down on themselves from above – possibly explaining why Venus figurines often did not include much detail on their heads.
2. Self-Portraits
Over the centuries, as artists navigated their way through history’s various artistic movements, self-portraiture became an art form all its own. Da Vinci’s portrait of a man made entirely out of red chalk chalk is widely acknowledged to be his self-portrait; Raphael and Michelangelo both include their faces into frescos at The School of Athens and The Sistine Chapel respectively – two such frescoes also featuring Raphael and Michelangelo alongside them as part of their frescos; many famous artist’s self-Portraits including Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear as well as Frida Kahlo’s many variations – creating masterpieces!
3. Polaroids
No history of selfies would be complete without including Polaroid cameras as one of its cornerstones. First introduced for sale in 1948, but not really becoming instant-developing machines until around 1965 or so, many artists used Polaroid to take self-portraits; one such artist being Andy Warhol who famously employed this form of instant photography for many of his iconic self-portraits.
Robert Cornelius took what would become the very first selfie taken with a camera back in 1839; it read “The first Light Picture Ever Taken 1839.” Unfortunately, hashtags weren’t around at that time!
Selfies have become part of modern culture, making an impressionful statement about who we are as individuals and our world today. One can only hope that one day genealogists might use selfies in their research and rejoice when they discover an old selfie of an ancestor!
