Proteus Effect

I approach character cultivation as resistance, and explore facets of the digital self navigating a malleable reality while being critical of power structures that are encoded within technology.

Proteus Effect is a term coined by researchers Nick Yee and Jeremy Bailenson in 2007, named after Proteus–a shape-shifting Greek god. It describes a phenomenon where virtual stimuli mold and dictate an individual’s self-representation and perception; when a person’s cultivated virtual self (their avatar) and its set of idiosyncrasies inversely influences their behaviors. Derived from the Sanskrit word avatra, meaning “descent,” the term avatar first appeared in English in 1784 to mean an incarnation or human appearance of a deity, particularly Vishnu. From that celestial origin, the term’s meaning expanded beyond the religious and sacred, to signify an embodiment of the self.

With layered, hyperreal photographic tableaus and portraits of Nova A, a queer Muslim Bangladeshi activist and model, I approach character cultivation as resistance, and explore facets of the digital self navigating a malleable reality while being cognizant and critical of power structures that are encoded within technology. Throughout the series, photographic worlds imbued with symbolism become portals to explore how the digital world can be an avenue to create agency for marginalized persons, realms are dissolved, collapsed, enmeshed and the ritualistic elements of technomancy are explored to invoke and evoke. It is often a realm populated with algorithmic biases, discriminatory facial recognition systems, censorship and surveillance, especially for identities relegated to the periphery with multitudes made monolithic. With the proliferation of bots, deep fake technology, extractive data mining and lives subsumed by the lure of social media, the real and virtual are coalescing and becoming increasingly indiscernible. The imagery investigates how virtual spaces became deeply affective and integral to the composition of layered identities, agendas and ideologies.