Giant iPhone mirror draws students’ attention

If you’ve been on upper campus recently, you might have walked by a giant iPhone mirror — and chances are, you took a selfie with it.

The giant iPhone belongs to Cal State Long Beach senior graphic design major Gabe Ferreira, who said it is part of a public art assignment.

“Initially, what I wanted was for people who walked up to it to see themselves framed in this thing,” Ferreira said. “We live inside phones now, so you’re literally inside a phone as you’re looking at this thing.”

The large, black, wooden iPhone houses a mirror instead of a screen and sits against a tree across the lawn from the Fine Arts buildings. It has left many students puzzled and questioning its meaning.

Sophomore biology major Brian Harwick said the art piece made him conscious of the selfies he takes.

“It’s putting it in peoples faces [on] how predominant selfies are, and I’m guilty of doing it, but I just feel like it’s seeking validation from others,” Harwick said. “To put it out there, right in people’s faces, I think it’s kind of cool.”

Ferreira said the piece’s purpose is to force students to reflect on their obsessions with their phones. He said, however, that many have reacted to the piece by using their phones to take a selfie.

“[It] is kind of ironic,” Ferreira said. “It’s almost as if you’re reacting to an ‘eat healthy’ ad by buying a burger.”

After observing the unexpected reactions, Ferreira decided to add the hashtag “#ultimateselfie” to a plaque describing his project. So far, the feedback has been positive with more than 90 photos posted on Instagram with the hashtag attached.

“At first it didn’t have a plaque, but after the first couple hours [of] watching the piece, everybody was taking a selfie, so [I figured I] might as well add a hashtag so I can track what people are doing with it,” Ferreria said. “I’ve been collecting the photos. I want to put them on some sort of blog or make a poster and put it on campus somewhere.”

Some students, like junior textiles and clothing major Estefany Arians, said they saw a lot of selfies on their Instagram accounts with the hashtag.

“I’ve seen my friends who go here post it on Instagram and do the hashtag,” Arians said. “I think it’s just any moment we can get to take a picture of ourselves to document our existence, we will.”

The iPhone mirror is Ferreira’s first public art piece, and he said he has learned about the role of cellphones through the public’s response to the piece.

“Something I learned was that we’ve come to just accept cellphones as fully integrated in our lives,” Ferreira said. “We’re not changing habits. We’re just gonna take another selfie.”

Senior English major Leticia Munoz said selfies have become a part of American culture.

“I think it’s so us… It’s sad, but it’s our culture,” Munoz said. “Even with the Academy Awards last night—that [selfie] was the most re-tweeted picture ever.”

Building the iPhone mirror took Ferreira and a fabricator who assisted him a total of three days. They cut the wood, installed the mirror, painted the piece and added the buttons.

Ferreira decided to use the iPhone because it’s easily recognizable.

“I chose [an iPhone] just because it’s the most iconic of all [cellphones],” Ferreira said. “I try not to use the word iPhone on my site and all that because the point is not to make it look like an iPhone, but just to make it look like a recognizable cellphone.”

The iPhone mirror’s last day on upper campus was yesterday, but Ferreira said he wants to keep the piece circulating.

“A lot of people have been suggesting that it should travel around campus or just places in Long Beach. Maybe I’ll take it to Second Street and leave it there,” Ferreira said. “Maybe I’ll just move it around campus or bring it next to the escalator where it’s really busy and see what havoc it would cause by people that stop to take a photo.”