PORTFOLIO III
The Selfie in Times of Cyborgs: A Masquerade
This Series of digital masks and avatars is derived entirely from my previous work of drawings and paintings. In this digital form, it questions the concept of authenticity, plays with self representation as a layered phenomenon continually reshaped by the desire to obscure or reinvent our identity. The question then may be, if the absurdity of an eternal self-documentation loop challenges our stability of identity in a hyper-mediated world and how this will affect the way it might shape it.
Historically, the image of the self has been understood as an outward representation of personhood, created to hold the gaze and transport identity into the future. In contrast, the selfie is in the center of our “liquid modernity,” reflecting the concept of self in constant flow and transformation.
Glitches are likely in times of synthetic Biology.
Over 5 billion individuals—about 63% of the human population—are estimated to be on social media, most with an image of themselves. Our likeness, like a deafening, droning hum, circles the globe from pole to pole. We’ve become a collective blur of self-representation, a massive compilation now wormholed by innumerable trained networks, each specialised to recognise certain traits, certain qualifications of individuals. And that, like much of what humanity has done on a global scale… remains biased and unequal.
From cave walls to the fleeting selfie on social media, the depiction of the self satisfies a basic human desire to confirm: I exist! Since antiquity, images of individuals have been eternalised—carved into stone, painted in frescos, and adorned on pots and coins—proof of existence meant to last for eternity.
With the ascent of oil painting, portraiture became a primary tool to solidify power and assure the generational passage of influence and wealth, resulting in ancestral galleries of epic scale. With the rise of the internet, the ways to confirm the existence of the self have shifted, but the desire for an individual presence—to be somebody, somewhere, to exist—remains as strong. Wikipedia became the blueprint for representation, and more recently, social media platforms have taken its place. For many, not having a presence there means… not existing.
As an artist, I will not attempt to shed light on possible impacts to humanity or shift perspectives on such a vast phenomenon. Instead, I’ll take the high road, aiming to trigger our recognition on a deeper level. I employ the ephemeral, the poetic, the imaginary, the wildly unreasonable, the impossible—the forever magic; because this is what comes from the uniquely human imagination, just like everything else that has ultimately powered our world, the good and the bad. I personally believe in the power of stories and imagined worlds as one of humanity's fundamental gifts that make us distinct and that is still the very foundation of ART; and maybe opens our minds and souls to look out for this world and to imagine a livable path into the vast unknown.
