News

Taking Book Selfies to the Next Level with the Google Arts and Culture App

Think you've seen everything the Google Arts and Culture app has to offer? Think again. Click through to see our favorite book cover faces elevated to the level of fine art.

Ashlie Swicker Jan 22, 2018

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Ashlie Swicker

Contributor

Ashlie (she/her) is an educator, librarian, and writer. She is committed to diversifying the reading lives of her students and supporting fat acceptance as it intersects with other women’s issues. She's also perpetually striving to learn more about how she can use her many privileges to support marginalized groups. Interests include learning how to roller skate with her local roller derby team, buying more books than she'll ever read, hiking with her husband and sons, and making lists to avoid real work. You can find her on Instagram (@ashlieelizabeth), Twitter (@mygirlsimple) or at her website, www.ashlieswicker.com.

View All posts by Ashlie Swicker

The wide open internet can be a rough place (endless hot takes, mind-numbing stupidity, sobering but important revelations) but over the past year or so, we’ve really taken a hit. That might be why the latest social media fad is making me so darn happy. The Google Arts and Culture App has a new feature that allows you to take a selfie (endless selfies) and see which work of art in their database most closely matches your picture. It’s useless and amazing.

I’ve had so much fun seeing friends and celebrities (ok, mostly authors I love) share their closest or most amusing matches. I, myself, was enamored of my personal snap that compared me to a portrait of Alexander Hamilton, which I could then post with Hamilton musical lyrics, thereby crowning me Queen Nerd of the Day.

What really got me excited was a group of book cover selfies taken by librarian friend and fellow Rioter, Tirzah Price. Our favorite main characters compared to works of art?!? Well, yes. Of course. Below are some more fabulous matches. Thank you, Google Arts and Culture App, for letting me use the phrase “arts and culture” to describe endless hours of taking pictures of myself and things I love!