During this period of quarantine, many people have taken up the challenge to post old photos of their younger, and more beautiful selves. Why not play with old or new photos to create a story? Fuelled by the mainstream media ads, most young people dream of becoming models. Why not use my own photos just to avoid problems with copyright claims etc.?
It seems people want to be remembered by as many people as possible, just in case they disappear during this epidemic.
This series of conceptual photos, ‘Ephemeral Personas’ explores the perception of the self and reality. It’s a comment on selfies, self-obsession, and celebrity culture. Our aspirations are encouraged by the media, and consumerism. One clings to one’s youth through Photo Shop, enhancements, or via plastic surgery. Yet these public projections of the self exist only as fiction, modified every moment by the viewer’s perception too.
With the advent of new technology and Social Media, boundaries of reality gets very blurred, as people project new images of themselves. Why this pursuit of the ephemeral? Or with larger than life images? Most people wouldn’t mind seeing themselves on huge billboards. Human beings have always been concerned with mortality. Perhaps these selfies are a way of leaving a fictionalized versions of themselves behind. A trace on the pixels of time.
Needless to say that ‘Lily’ is a projected aspect of herself. This series melds photos taken in different places, cultures, settings, occasions, and contextual frame-works. In that sense, it has an international aspect, as most people’s Social Media pages tend to show.
Bubbles of dreams, or fragments of augmented reality? Wishful thinking about the past? Or wistful projections upon the future? The viewer creates their own stories, as much as the selfie-taker.
Even if our standards of beauty maybe different, people are always trying to make their selfies as gorgeous as their mobile phone’s tech will allow them to be. Some non-technical people have become very apt at playing around with the photo editors on their mobiles, due to this pressing need to flood the Internet with beautiful images of themselves.
One aspect of these photos is the blurring of lines between reality and the projection of one’s self onto the web. By building this ‘story’ via pics, I’m commenting on the rising concerns about one’s self-image in the world. Are we following in the foot-steps of stars too faithfully? How many people would create posters with themselves in them, if they had the ability to do so?
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‘Nascent’ suggests Lily’s dream of becoming a star.
In ‘Buoyant’ Lily’s image whirls and floats through Social Media’s self-boosting engines.
‘Fragrant,’ this mock-up of this ad consolidates Lily’s social position.
‘Scintillant’ on the cover of Chat! ensures that Lily has arrived, and will survive in some people’s memories, other than family or friends.
