Anna May Kirk

Optical Avatar

Friday 2 – Saturday 17 October

Anna May Kirk, Optical Avatar, 2015. Image courtesy of the artist.

Optical Avatar by Anna May Kirk holds a mirror to digital self-surveillance, analysing self recognition as our curated virtual identities hold a gaze through the screen. With the exponential rise of networked computing, our lives and environments are increasingly broadcast into the public digital sphere. Social media is a key example, aiding the giddy celebration of identity flux as it releases the user from their physical body in order to curate themselves as anything/s or anyone/s. In this new digital environment, individuals are able to play with their identities and the spaces in which these identities function, to the point where ‘life’ becomes more intense online than off. Kirk utilises the screen as a non-neutral interface between user and these new media metaspaces to explore the implications of when these constructed virtual identities peer back through the screen and influence the creators physical reality.

Anna May Kirk is an emerging multi-disciplinary artist, curator and writer based in Sydney, Australia. Kirk’s practice, concentrating on installation and performance, utilises the malleable and poignant nature of art to make social comment. Currently completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) at The University of New South Wales Art and Design. Kirk has also completed a traineeship with the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. Anna May Kirk has exhibited in a series of solo and group exhibitions throughout Sydney, both in gallery and alternative spaces.

© 2015 Anna May Kirk