This current set of portraits examines the evolving and ever expanding relationship between digital culture and self-representation. Using appropriated images from social media platforms – screenshots and stolen selfies – as source material, these paintings reflect how identity is constructed, presented, and consumed in the virtual world. The contemporary presentation of the self.

 

By removing these images from their original platforms and reimagining them within a Fine Art context, I explore how perception shifts when a temporary image becomes permanent. What happens when a “selfie”, meant to be scrolled past and briefly noticed in the space of a screen, is instead given the presence of a traditionally painted portrait? 

 

The aesthetics of the digital age often treat the self as an object. The individual is curated, revised, and validated through outside perception, the internet serving as our primary mode of experiencing others. In this sense the selfie becomes both self-portrait and object, simultaneously intimate and objectified. 

This series of work explores the juxtaposition between the instantaneous, fleeting nature of the digital world and the enduring qualities of painting. By translating these singular moments of one’s identity into lasting works of art, I aim to bridge contemporary visual culture with traditional portraiture, prompting reflections on identity, and the ways technology continues to reshape the self.