Tag Mee
This is an experimental body of work that uses found material from Facebook. I choose images that seem idealized; fantasies that I am drawn to. My work examines changes in the emotional status and character of the photographic image in light of digital social networks.
My working process includes a number of steps. Firstly, I sift through Facebook profiles and choose images of women and men about my age that could easily fit into my native or current location. These photos include profile pictures, staged group pictures, 'selfies' and snapshots. The images are then divided into genres and themes. I realized that the images that interested me the most were those in which two people were photographed, one knowingly and the other not. This has since come to form the central focus of my project.
The collected images are then reenacted using myself as the main protagonist alongside other subjects. The reenacted photographs allow me to appropriate other people's memories and desires. I aim at evoking the emotions and feelings expressed in the original image by creating an artificial moment that examines my experiences in relation to them. I 'tag' myself in the reenacted Facebook images, which are added to a new Facebook profile titled 'Tag Mee'. The reenacted images are produced using a digital camera, a web cam, or a smartphones—mirroring the digital diaspora typically found online.
Through the various types of images and the relationships between them I attempt to understand questions about the relationship between fiction and reality.
This experiment is another facet of my inquiries into the intimacy and authenticity of reenactment, occupying a contradictory position both distant, and involved, repulsed and attracted, feeling a sense of belonging and of loneliness all at once; experiencing both empathy and a struggle of domination.
