M O J - Jess Phillips

Digital Body

Chatroom

A series exploring hypersensitivity to the sensation of proximity upon exiting extensive lockdowns. Plaster of Paris on canvas board, Artsteps allowed a digital representation of how this work would have been exhibited. 

Part ready-made, part polyurethane sculpture, ‘Vanity’ embodies the abject in feminine identity and the relationship it has with intimate spaces and furniture. 

Heavily inspired by Kate Crawford and Trevor Paglen’s work surrounding artificial intelligence and computer learning image sets.

Video work based on the prompt “A Day in the Life, a digital intervention”. Here I have combined recent footage which has been digitally altered with footage from my Snapchat library dating back to 2016. Also incorporated is footage of files containing my meta data that I requested from Snapchat to understand the digital profile created on me based on the compilation of my every action on the platform from when I opened the account in 2014. This video was created in the aspect ratio to fit most smartphones, as this is the perspective for all my interactions with the social media platform and continues to be with similar apps today.

This is a very difficult material to manipulate, there are time limitations and it’s sticky af. Need to wait until a solid enough membrane has formed on outer layer to pull, but breakage occurs easily and dried foam doesn’t stick easy to the crate. Could consider using clips to hold, or maybe glue but then there’s a drying time factored in on that as well. We’ll see.

Poster paint magenta, air-dry clay green and light pink, impasto and acrylic paint sheet pink and sea foam.

3- (Not depicted) Foam sprayed then quickly mixed with blue and yellow acrylic paint separately. Two colours arranged together randomly. Structure expands and hardens. Effect of vibrant colours but a very smooth, shiny finish. Much less expansion as oxygen was removed during mixing.

Originally me trying to use it to make a leg in a stocking, broke it in half to reveal an interesting texture/terrain.