THe mist: the bulge, the ball, the voluptuous (2024)

The Mist: The Bulge, the Ball, the Voluptuous is a video installation comprising animated collages that utilize images and videos from social media thirst traps, particularly on TikTok. This project is part of my ongoing research project, Performative Digital Bodies, which delves into the image culture on social media to understand the paradoxical urge of this generation to perform while feeling profoundly exhausted.

As TikTok, Twitch, and OnlyFan quickly emerged over the past few years as popular outlets for daily entertainment, the number of images of bodies proliferated in digital space immensely. Yet, these abundant displays of bodies seem to formulate into nothingness. Therefore, I gather images of bodies actively performing on the internet, examining the labor involved in altering our bodies for likes and visibility.

I transform these bodies into black-and-white textures, projecting them onto a lumpy and bulging structure positioned in the corner of the room. As visitors approach the structure, the movement of the texture intensifies, creating a chaotic and intense experience. The installation aims to reimagine the pulsating desire that fills our digital experience as a hectic physical object — an ever-growing lump on the verge of bursting.