Whenever I open Instagram or Snapchat, I find myself wondering how much someone edited an image of themselves. Are they really that skinny? How many filters did they apply to make the image look ‘good’ to them? Curious about identity and inspired by my love-hate relationship with social media, my work explores how the self is depicted. The four, mirrored acrylic pieces etched with abstract shapes are based on four terms representing how the self, or the impossibility of the self, is constructed in the postmodern era. Multiphrenia refers to the different voices in our culture telling us what and who we are. The protean self can change constantly to suit the present circumstances; this may result in finding of one’s true self, or can indicate that there is no one true self. Decentered-self believes that there is no self at all because people are constantly undergoing change. The self-in-relation lives his/her life in relation to other people and certain cultural contexts. The mirrors’ reflective material involves the viewer as part of the work, while the etchings’ design — graphics that overlap, lose direction, and constantly change — represents the tension and pressure that comes with using social media.
