The #Rebel Selves Smartphone App is designed to make selfies glitchy and fun. It was created by Charlotte Roe, an artist based in Huddersfield, and Dr Dawn Woolley, an artist and research fellow at Leeds Arts University, with support from a Leeds Arts University and the HE Innovation Fund.

Dawn researches social networking sites and selfies. Because it is difficult to achieve beauty ideals, selfie taking can cause low self-esteem and body image issues. The app is one of the creative approaches she is developing to challenge gender and beauty ideals and reduce these risks.

To launch the app and share her important research, she is running Release Your Inner Rebel Selfie Competition to find the most creative images that can be produced using the app.

The Release Your Inner Rebel Selfie Competition is free and very easy to enter. Participants create selfies using the app http://www.rebelselves.com and either add them to the gallery page labelled with their Instagram account, send them to rebelselves@gmail.com or tag @rebelselves on Instagram and use #rebelselfie tag in the post.

Winning entries will be shared online and exhibited in a poster exhibition around Leeds (Sponsorship kindly provided by Pop Art).

Dawn is running some free online workshops to introduce the competition and the app. Sign up here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/release-your-inner-rebel-selfie-competition-workshops-tickets-946353116647 if you’d like to learn more.

The deadline to enter is Sunday 20th October 2024

Winners will be announced on Saturday 23rd November

Our exciting panel of expert judges are:
Maya Fuhr, fashion photographer and philanthropist in LA
Dr Michael Petry, artist, author and Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) London
Jung Me Chai, gallerist and founder of Diskurs Berlin
Mindy Lee, artist and curator of Blyth Gallery London
Matthew Pendergast, Curator and Deputy Director, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester

Prizes:
First Prize: £100 Amazon voucher from Leeds Arts University
Second Prize: £50 Voucher for Take It Easy Photo Lab
Third Prize: £40 Curator Space Artist subscription
Fourth Prize: MirrorMirror: The Reflective Surface in Contemporary Art By Michael Petry (brand new and due to be published by @thamesandhudson on 14 November 2024)

Thank you to these organisations for providing these amazing prizes.

Terms and conditions
The judges decisions are final.
Prizes cannot be swapped.
Images deemed to be offensive or depict risk to the selfie-taker / others will not be shared.
Any questions can be directed to Dawn at dawn.woolley@leeds-art.ac.uk