YOUNGSTOWN — An interactive art museum in Youngstown is aimed at helping people freshen up their social media feeds. 

There are more than two dozen different art installations inside a former store space at Southern Park Mall. Each one is a different photo opp. It’s enough to make Dynese Cooley feel like a celebrity. 

“You gotta make sure not to blink when the light goes on,” she said, talking about the flash of the camera. “I did that a couple times cause I’m not used to flashing lights in my face, cause I’m not famous.”

But a modeling career may not be in the 10-year-old’s future since she said she doesn’t want to deal with paparazzi. 

“I wanna help people,” she said. “Save people’s lives.”

Dynese and her mom, Melody Rodriguez, were walking through the mall when they spotted Selfie Space. 

“This is fun because she likes sending pictures to her friends,” Rodriguez said. “And I like to put them on Facebook.”

That’s exactly what Nicole Purington had in mind when she created this interactive museum.

“I want them to be able to come and have fun and let loose,” Purington said. “Not care about what other people are gonna say and just post their pictures.”

This is a dream project for Purington, a lifelong artist. Each backdrop and display in the 7,000-square-foot space was made by her hands. 

She’s happy by the positive responses she’s been receiving. 

“A lot of them are like, you can’t see it right now because of my mask, but my jaw is dropped,” she said. 

Selfie Space achieves two of her goals: owning a gallery and owning a photo studio.

“You’re not just paying to take pictures of yourself or paying for the photos, you’re paying for the experience,” Purington said. “You’re paying to see all of the hundreds of hours of work that went into building each of these rooms.” 

She got the idea during the pandemic when people were forced to limit face-to-face interactions to help stop the spread of coronavirus. Instead, people turned to connecting virtually. 

“And now, things are starting to open back up and I want to get them to the whole social media experience that they’re attached to, and get them to experience it in a whole new way,” Purington said.

She wants people to picture themselves in a positive light. 

“I just think it’s important to perpetuate the self-love in everything,” she said. “You know, I was bullied a lot in high school. I think a lot of kids were. But I just wanted to like pay it forward.”

And give everyone a chance to be a star. 

The rooms and installations will change with holidays and seasons, so visitors can have a new photoshoot each time they visit. 

Polaroid cameras are also available to rent to give your pictures a vintage feel.