Artist Statement
We have never had so much control over our own image as we do today. Hyper Aware is a self portrait that explores the ability to construct, manipulate and influence the concept of identity.
Through social media we have access to the lives of others. Pictures, posts and background information allow viewers to make quick judgements and construct a notion of one’s identity. These platforms allow individuals to pick, choose and manipulate their information. This heightened sense of control can result in a hyper awareness of the self and ambiguity for the viewer.
These elements do not always work in harmony and one’s sense of self can get lost in translation. The portrait Hyper Aware challenges the traditional conventions of portraiture by removing the face yet still presenting the illusion of gaze, expression and mood.
The real becomes surreal and the surreal becomes a natural manipulation.
Exhibition details:
This work was commission to be part of the UQ Art Museum's National Artists’ Self-Portrait Prize 2013
This work was commission to be part of the UQ Art Museum's National Artists’ Self-Portrait Prize 2013
The prominence given to the self image in social media, on reality television and in everyday life has generated an audience primed to receive and consume personal information. Whether artists today operate from a digital platform or not, their self portraits are likely to be understood within this context.
remix. post. connect. explores the impulse to manipulate, present or exchange aspects of self, through artworks in a range of media. The exhibition acknowledges that identity is unstable, and that one’s sense of self is informed by multiple, often competing, influences, including heritage.
The invited artists adopt various approaches that do not always conform to traditional notions of self portraiture. While some use biography or narrative, others are less overt. In each case, the artists have disclosed something about themselves, whether fabricated or ‘real’.
