Saatchi Gallery and Huawei have also joined forces on the competition #SaatchiSelfie
As part of the forthcoming From Selfie to Self-Expression exhibition opening at Saatchi Gallery on 30 March, Saatchi Gallery together with Huawei have commissioned ten visual artists to create new works using Huawei’s new P10 dual lens smartphone, co-engineered with Leica.
Reprising the spirit and energy of the Young British Artist movement first launched 25 years ago the works of these young British photographers will go on display in a gallery dedicated to smartphone photography.
From Selfie to Self-Expression presented by Huawei will be the world’s first exhibition exploring the history of the selfie from the old masters to the present day, and will celebrate the creative potential of a form of expression often derided for its inanity. The show also highlights the emerging role of the smartphone as an artistic medium for self-expression.
The exhibition will showcase key artworks, many of which feature interactive, digital and user- generated content, by artists as diverse as Christopher Baker, Tracey Emin, Van Gogh, Mohau Modisakeng, Rembrandt, Cindy Sherman, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Velazquez.
Showing alongside examples of many influential artists’ work will be selfies that have quickly become icons of the digital era.
Saatchi Gallery and Huawei have also joined forces to offer artists, photographers and enthusiasts around the globe a chance to show their most creative selfies internationally, and have their work exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery, as part of the competition #SaatchiSelfie.
The #SaatchiSelfie competition will be judged by a panel of renowned artists and forward-thinkers. In addition to having their selfie showcased at the Saatchi Gallery as part of From Selfie to Self-Expression, the ten shortlisted winners will also receive Huawei’s newest smartphone, and the overall winner will receive a priceless photographic experience, to be announced at a later date. The overall winner of the #SaatchiSelfie Competition will be announced at the show’s launch in London on 30 March 2017.
The ten commissioned photographers are: Alma Haser, who merges collage and inventive paper-folding techniques with portraiture in her practice; Tom Hunter, who explores his local community in East London producing images that merge landscape, social commentary and art history; Chris Levine, a pioneer of light photography, whose portrait of Queen Elizabeth II Lightness of Being has become a contemporary icon; Christopher Nunn, a Yorkshire-based photographer who documents life in in Ukraine; Laura Pannack, a London-based photographer renowned for her portraiture and social documentary artwork.
Also: Simon Roberts, whose work deals with our relationship to landscape and notions of identity and belonging; Jonny Briggs, whose work explores his relationship with the constructed reality of the family; Emma Critchley, an artist who works underwater using photography, film, sound and installation to explore the human relationship within this psychological and environmental space; Hannah Starkey, who reconstructs scenes from everyday life using actors and carefully considered settings to produce images that have the concentrated stylisation of film; and Matt Stuart, whose street photography shows an empathetic fascination with people and the way they live their lives.
