The Selves

by Sonja Ahlers

A HAUNTING, BEAUTIFUL STUDY OF ART, POP, FEMININITY, AND FEMINISM

Before blogs, there were zines. Before zines, there were scrapbooks. Sometimes overlooked in the quest to produce high culture, these most direct and intimate means of communication and recording memory are the tools favored by Sonja Ahlers in the making of her art. A self-taught artist and writer, Ahlers wears her pop-culture obsessions on her sleeve, professing her love for such visual icons as Princess Di, Holly Hobbie, and Stevie Nicks. Focusing on found objects such as stickers, greeting cards, andmagazine photos collected in collage framework, complete with song lyrics hand-lettered in cursive script and heartbreaking, melancholic watercolors, Ahlers explores and exposes the social construction of roles, feminine and otherwise. Beginning with incipient childhood self-awareness and traversing high school status jockeying to adult social climbing, the cultural imagery that supports and informs personal identity is given uneasy new meanings and importance in Ahlers's visual remixes.

Genres: Art, Comics, Graphic Novels, Canada, Art Design, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

96 pages, Paperback

First published May 25, 2010

About the author

Sonja Elizabeth Ahlers is a visual artist and poet from Victoria, British Columbia.

Reviews

[K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty to look at.
Wish I could scrapbook like that.
Didn't actually understand the "feminist" aspect of it except that it includes photographs of awesome some not awesome ladies, make-up, fluffy animals, fashion cutouts, a chic Victorian palette, lots of lace, pretty curtains and beautiful, curly doodles.

[Kent Winward · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me awhile to figure out what bothered me so much about this collage/art book. Art suffers when it tends towards the didactic. The Princess Diana theme, underscored with the Marilyn Monroe-celebrity sub-theme, simply felt like a screed rather than an art book. Ostensibly the book was supposed to have humor, but I found little to laugh at, but rather felt like I was in church being preached at. With much that explores the human (and in this case, female) condition, the presentation was lopsided, which runs counter to the collage medium, which is to be inclusive, so the art form and the message were at cross-purposes.

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't so much read this as thumbed through it like a magazine. I found the imagery engaging but the content seemed overly esoteric. Some pages caught my attention but most of the meaning was lost on me. Some pages I loved, but even the ones I didn't were fun to look at. I feel a bit misled by this book's description as it wasn't quite what I expected, but still is interesting and special.

[Harla Lazaris-Receno · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty to look at but not a whole lot to say.

[Anina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can't believe this has a 4.5 star rating as do her other books. Are you guys serious? This is a feminist styles collage book and in the immortal words of Moe Sizzlack it is "weird for the sake of weird". Everyone says her style is "ziney" which I guess means she collages and not the kind where she's making her own screen prints and cutting them up and drawing back into them. This is straight up glued pictures from magazines and an occasional doodle. It's a scrapbook and that's fine but I bet a lot of other art students have one similar to it. You know... baby doll heads and lollipops and tampon ads. We aren't exactly breaking new ground here so really, after reading this I just wonder who she knows in the publishing industry.

[Bachar Alabdullah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though difficult, it was definitely an interesting read. I thought a lot of the references Ahlers made in the book were difficult for me to understand since I wasn't around during the period that her references were mostly taken from. It's also very hard to decipher the absolute meaning behind this book. I personally thought of it as a timeline, showing how women were treated harshly, then slowly, the revolution (specifically the sexual revolution) came in and knocked down all the stereotypes associated with gender. Others, however, thought that it's merely a scrap book of a girl coming to age in a non-ideal time. Though the two conclusions can relate to each other, it's hard to say they're the same.

[Tristy · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I have a little extra money, I treat myself to a Sonja Ahlers book. I've been loving her work for so many years now. Her voice is so authentic and piercing with a sweet after-taste. She is a pioneer in the original Riot Grrrl movement and it makes me sad to read reviews of her work by these younger "art school girls" who just don't get it. Your entire world is built on the backs of women artists like Sonja Ahlers.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wavered between 3 and 2 stars because the book felt like an art exhibit. Some of the pages I absolutely loved and really resonated with me as a woman. Other pages I rolled my eyes at and wanted to mutter some cynical comment about hippies and crappy modern art. All in all, it kept me interested and I want to read/peruse more of her art.

[Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting, mixed graphic and textual exploration of how feminine beauty has been a main avenue to fame and renown for women, and the consequences that this can have for the women involved. It's less dry than I've just made it sound - but that's the main takeaway for me.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

i want to be friends with sonja ahlers. apparently we like all the same things. her collage style has definitely evolved from her earlier stuff, but still retains its zine-y quality.

[Sarra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would like to have Sonja Ahlers' babies. Or sit around and make feminist art with her. Either way.

[reading is my hustle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Feminine power.
Never forever.

[Erin Gee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sonja lives in Whitehorse sometimes!

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

collages, book titles and covers, quotes, snippets of everything.

[Catfish Dogfight · Rating 2 out of 5]

A zinelike collage book on a certain kind of femininity and its reflection on pop culture. Theres a lot of princess di in here. And cutsey doodles. 's okay.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Selves is basically an artsy collage of sketches, magazine clippings and photographs about the experience of being a woman. It isn't my kind of thing but it did give me lofty scrapbooking goals.