Locating the Visual

Abstract

Smartphones are increasingly becoming an all-pervasive and embedded part of everyday life. In this phenomenon, the rise of high-quality camera phones and growth in distribution services via social media has heralded new forms of visuality. With geotagging almost a default setting, these new visualities are marked by a different relationship between information, co-presence, and place. In particular, these new visualities are shaping, and shaped by, gender. One key location that has become famous for its high deployment of camera phone practices, especially self-portraiture (sel-ca) by women, is Seoul, South Korea. However, as camera phone practices increasingly intertwine with locative media, we see a shift in the motivations, genres, and affects. In this article, I explore some preliminary studies conducted into women’s use of camera phones and how, with the overlay of locative media like geotagging, this is shifting the role of camera phone images in depicting place and intimacy.