Designers exploring virtual self
HIDING BEHIND TECHNOLOGY & PORTRAYING A VIRTUAL SELF FOR ACCEPTANCE”
Chompoo Baritone
Mark DeNicola. Who found the Barbie article then found an artist Chompoo Baritone, a photographer based in Bangkok, Thailand, also playing around with the joking idea of how we use social media.
The photographer uses a picture- in -picture method to show that what you see on Instargram within the frame isn’t what is really happening in reality. Outside the frame it doesn’t always look as picture perfect as we make it seem.
Is there actually any harm in staging these pictures? Do you see them as potentially dangerous to how we perceive both others and ourselves?
I myself don’t see the harm in making a picture seem more picturesque than what the scene in reality actually is, but its the effect of the cliché images, the idea of making life seem better than what it is for you, why do people do this? What is the need people feel to fulfill, to make people think you have such a god life, why are we seeking this praise and acceptance so much through social media?
Sociality Barbie
Moving onto the way we behave on social media and how this effects how we are perceived therefore seeking acceptance from the people around us.
Social media is logged on to many times a day, most people cant stay logged out from it for more than a few hours, because of this constant usage and the viewing of others content constantly, it seems that the majority of content has become cliché, from selfies to arty shots and pictures with our relatives, were all guilty of posting the same things day in day out.
I see this in my own social feed, I’m even guilty of doing it myself, photos of food, documenting every little thing you do.
An anonymous wedding photographer from Portland, Oregon started an Instagram account unlike any other. Operating under the name ‘Sociality Barbie’ the account features all of the cliché pictures we love to post, but with a Barbie doll in our place. The message seems to play on the quote “You were born original. Don’t die a copy.” social media has drove us to posting things we think are original and will gain you ‘publicity’ amongst your friends to seek the acceptance we crave as humans, but has actually drawn us to all become the same. The people who don’t follow this trend are the people who are singled out and are bullied.
