Pixelated Reflections

Artist Statement

Pixelated Reflections is a mixed-media photographic series that explores identity and beauty in the digital age. As we live in a world where the newest technological advancement is constantly shaping our identity, we are losing a sense of reality within the image. Instead of focusing on the beauty in our everyday life, we are instead focused on the satisfaction we gain from filters, followers, and likes. Through this, beauty has become a symbol of the the latest AI creation. This series discusses the new forms of beauty during this new digital age by commenting on the erasure, evolution, and creation of the human image.

Gaining influence from postmodern artists such as Barbara Kruger, Marcel Duchamp, and Kensuke Koike, through the use of photography, found images, and digital collages, I am asking the viewer to question the effects of social media on our past, present, and future. While past images, such as family photos, were once used to capture beauty in moments and people in everyday life, now, no images are complete without a filter pasted on top. The people and moments have become lost to time, discarded, and changed under the priority of the digital cloud. The images that have been saved in this web of data are now able to be warped and shaped to fit the newest phase. As a society, we have lost our sense of self through the loss of reality; the only way to regain that sense of self is to look outside of the screen and focus on what is considered beautiful in our everyday life.