Artist Domenico Barra, Hand on heart, edition 1 of 1. We are obsessed with truth. We look for it, we demand it. We fear it. We are engaged in a daily narration of the self in constructed systems scenarios designed for authenticity but where the staging of the self is awarded for success.
The online identity, the show of the persona. A critical point of collision between who we are and who we become. A conflict of identity and role playing. The easiest convenient path often is accustomed to the consensus of the public we interact with everyday leading to a shapeshifting personality in an over questioning of ourselves. This process often happens unconsciously as our online presence is "curated" by algorithms.
A condition of strong influences that affects what we say, what we see and show, what they think and do while we are asked to put a hand on our heart and be honest, be authentic. As reality gets polluted by fake news and infobesity, as the online play becomes constantly based on new levels of social engagement and narration, to stay pure is a challenge but also a necessity, especially in a world going through difficult times defined also by a complex crisis of values. To stay genuine is a revolutionary act but, as every revolution, it comes at a cost, that of privacy, of freedom, of mental sanity.
Hand of Heart and Shapeshifting are a diptych rising the question about identity in a machine influenced society going through a massive humanity and humanitarian emergency.
