The project 'Digital Bodies' explores the dynamics of consent and privacy in the realm of AI, and seeks to provoke a dialogue about stereotypical depictions of the female body.
The starting point, was the digital files of my own body. I had been left with these files after the end of a project, where the client wanted a female nude to inspire packaging and the set design. These were a series of bodies scans for a beauty brand who needed a female nude. I was rushed into this process and the digital technician encouraged me it's a start to building a much needed future avatar. A dystopian reality. This experience helped me to reflect on the cultural and computational shift, and what a dystopian future could be.
Following on from this, for my Media Studies project I applied a 2D technique of photocopying to capture the 3D body prints. I wanted to eliminate perspective and scale and to question realism and the space within which these sculptures - and my represented self- exist.
Who owns virtual space and virtual avatars? What commercial or personal interests are at stake? What lawsuits are coming we can’t yet imagine or speculate about? These were the primary questions that drove my research and practice, which resulted in presenting a compilation of photographs, sculptures and distorted version of my virtual avatar to begin a discussion about the ethics of AI.