STEFDIES

STEFDIES is a photographic performance art project, created by Stephanie Leigh Rose.
Each image in the series is from a different iconic landmark or tourist attraction. The series includes the Eiffel Tower, Golden Gate Bridge, as well as Leigh Rose lying face down on the ground, pretending to be dead.
History
Leigh Rose started creating the project in 2002, before going on to share her images publicly in 2010. The STEFDIES Instagram account launched in 2017 and has since accumulated over 81,000 followers.
According to Leigh Rose, the series began as a humorous depiction of being ‘dead exhausted’, which then evolved into a collection of images that poked fun at the seriousness of selfie culture and celebrated living in the moment.
Impact
Exhibitions
The STEFDIES photography series has been featured in various exhibitions across the world.
In 2017, it was a selected project for Femfest, a feminist exhibition produced by Sweet 'Art at The Ugly Duck, London. The event explored themes of female identity through the mediums of photography, live performance, film and sculpture.
In 2018, a selection of STEFDIES images were featured in the BYOPAPER! exhibition, an event which takes place as part of the ', the world’s oldest international photography festival, in the Provence city of Arles, France. This site-specific exhibition takes place for one night in the abandoned paper mill, Papeteries Étienne, and the artists are encouraged to show work that is creative, offbeat and funny.
In 2019, Cultivate produced the exhibition, Nothing Is Square, at Shipton Street Gallery in East London. The premise was that each artist was given an identically sized 20cm x 20cm canvas for them to display their work. Coming from the world of Instagram squares, the STEFDIES print was at home in this format. The exhibition featured work from painters, pop art printers and film makers and continued a trend for STEFDIES to be featured in mixed-media exhibitions.
In 2021, in wake of galleries closing, Amy Oliver established The House of Smalls, a miniature gallery space which exhibits micro prints of art and photography. Prints from the STEFDIES series were included in the exhibition: The Portrait Within. The exhibition explored 'the hidden self' through the artists' interpretation of a self portrait.
Anti-selfie
The STEFDIES series has been credited with starting the Anti-selfie movement and promoting the taking of photographs with less importance given to the appearance of the subject and an emphasis on living in the moment.
Leigh Rose’s iconic death-pose is not the classic flattering, waist-cinched pose as modeled in most online influencers’ Instagram posts and there is no opportunity to judge her make-up or facial appearance. The STEFDIES series is referenced in Alicia Eler's book, The Selfie Generation: How Our Self Images Are Changing Our Notions of Privacy, Sex, Consent, and Culture, as playing a key part in subverting the expectations of selfies.
Leigh Rose states that her photographs are taken spontaneously, without planning, as she encourages living in the present and not fixating on capturing the perfect image. She explained to deMilked magazine: ‘Believe me, it’s really hard to not be present when you are face down eating dirt.’
According to Leigh Rose, many school groups and teachers follow the STEFDIES series and use it as a tool to show young people that there are alternatives to the calculated perfectionism of mainstream online culture.
Participation
In a 2019 interview with WGN News, Leigh Rose encouraged fans to create their own replicas of her image series. She expressed her desire for everyone to be able to participate in the project without concern for perfection or status. Since encouraging fans to get involved, participants have recreated the STEFDIES pose and shared their images on Instagram using the hashtags #stefdiesfan and #stefdieswithme.
Reactions
Despite spontaneously pretending to be ‘dead’ in crowded tourist hotspots, Leigh Rose states that she has only had members of the public ask if she is okay a handful of times. Leigh Rose has mentioned in an interview that Paris is one of her favorite cities to take her photos in as people there assume that she’s a crazy artist.

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