“From GOMAG, June 30, 2019, by JDG:”

Alicia Eler

Selfie connoisseur Kim Kardashian and writer Alicia Eler have a lot in common. Eler is the author of “The Selfie Generation: How Our Self-Images Are Changing Our Notions of Privacy, Sex, Consent, and Culture” (Skyhorse, 2017), a close-up take on the selfie cultural phenomena that Kardashian basically invented. In her groundbreaking book, which was reviewed worldwide, Eler unpacks the selfie on all levels, from how teens are using the visual language of funeral selfies to why for some queer people of color it’s been a mode of self-representation. “To be seen and heard is powerful,” Eler says. The paperback version along with a new afterword is due out this coming August. When she’s not musing about the selfie phenomenon, she is covering art in the Twin Cities for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, where she currently works as the visual art critic/art reporter. A native of Chicago and a longtime resident of Los Angeles, she’s contributed to numerous magazines, writing personal memoir essays like “What is the Lesbian Dick Pic?” for New York Magazine, and “I don’t call myself bisexual — I let my stories tell themselves” for the Guardian. She’s written for countless art publications such as Artforum, Hyperallergic, Art21 Magazine, and Aperture Magazine. The selfie is only one form of expression that appeals to this language buff. Eler speaks Spanish and is currently learning Turkish to connect with her Turkish identity (her father is from Istanbul).