Fix your hair. Straighten your tie. Snap a quick self-portrait. Share with your friends.

Since the advent of smartphone technology, self-portraits or “selfies” have become a major component of our digital lives.

They’re often used to develop our own personal brand — to cultivate and share a carefully-curated image, and present exactly what we want the world to see.

But they’re also nothing new.

For McMaster researchers Janice Hladki and Sarah Brophy, exploring the nature of self-representation and self-portraiture is the focus of their new co-curated exhibit at the McMaster Museum of Art, This is Me, This is Also Me.

“On the one hand, selfie culture is a unique aspect of this particular time period,” said Hladki, an associate professor in McMaster’s School of the Arts.

“But I would also say that it has been quite prominent at different times throughout history. During the Renaissance, for example, self-representation and self-portraiture absolutely exploded across all mediums. Andy Warhol, who is featured in this exhibit, is anther good example. He was recently described as the ‘King of Selfies.'”

Co-curated by Hladki and Brophy — a professor in the Department of English & Cultural Studies — the exhibition brings together a number of modern and contemporary works that explore themes related to self-representation, critical embodiment, displacement, mis-recognition and multiple-selves in art.

Featuring bold and arresting works from the likes of Warhol, Edvard Munch, Rebecca Belmore, Cathy Daley and Toronto-based collective General Idea, This is Me, This is Also Me conveys joy, pleasure, humour, challenge and resistance in equal measure.

The researchers took full advantage of the University’s extensive permanent collection while developing the exhibit over the past four years, assembling a diverse body of work that includes photography, painting, drawing, printmaking, installation, sculpture and video art.

“The McMaster Museum of Art is known for having the best collection of any university museum across Canada,” said Hladki. “So we immediately thought, ‘this is going to be wonderful.’ We combined pieces from McMaster’s collection with loaned works from various places, including the Andy Warhol Museum, the Art Gallery of Ontario and individual artists.”

“Student researchers have contributed to the exhibition process from the outset,” added Brophy. “And we’re excited to have two undergraduates lined up to blog about the show over the coming months.”

On Thursday, Nov. 27, Hladki and Brophy will host a panel discussion at the McMaster Museum of Art entitled Representing the Self, Connecting to Others.

The event will run from 1:30-3 p.m., and copies of the curators’ edited collection Embodied Politics in Visual Autobiography will also be for sale. All are welcome to attend.

As part of the exhibit, a student media workshop entitled Our Selfies, Ourselves? will take place Feb. 5, followed by a panel discussing featuring artists Rebecca Belmore, Deanna Bowen and Cathy Daley on March 12.

This is Me, This is Also Me will be on display until March 21, 2015. The project is supported by the Arts Research Board; Forward with Integrity, Office of the President; and Research & International Affairs.

Below: White Thread (2003) by Canadian artist Rebecca Belmore. Courtesy of Miriam Shiell Fine Art Ltd.

Sarah Brophy discusses the link between visual autobiography, social media and selfie culture: