#digitalFeelings is a collection of multi-disciplinary works originally created as an‘Instagram performance’
during lockdown. In these works, the artist records herself behind a screen, creating suggestive videos
and digital prints.
The collection explores representations of the female body on social media. It highlights the artist’s
personal struggle to conform with unattainable standards, as well as her social anxiety that stems from an
excessive use of the service.
The storyline of #digitalFeelings follows the journey of a girl with an ambiguous identity, trapped within the
confines of a phone. Her sense of self becomes increasingly lost and desperate as she navigates this
synthetic space, searching for a way to reclaim her identity. In a poignant conclusion, she comes to
understand that escaping is impossible. Instead, she chooses to paint her body, leaving a lasting mark
that symbolizes her acceptance of her surroundings and her path to coexist within this artificial
environment.
The works offer a profound exploration of the synchronicities of virtual and physical identities, where one
can exist as both and neither at the same time. This fluidity between states of being allows for a nuanced
investigation into the nature of identity itself, examining how it coexists and connects with the digital age.
The artist’s engagement with these concepts opens up a dialogue about the interplay between the
curated online persona and the tangible self, highlighting the blurred boundaries between the two and the
impact on individual and collective experiences. As well as, bringing to light the challenges and conflicts
that arise from attempting to maintain a harmonious balance between these two parallel worlds.
Artist Info
Sofia Cianciulli is a multi-disciplinary body artist from Florence, Italy. Cianciulli grew up surrounded by Renaissance art history’s sexual connotations and later was influenced by the individualism and diversity of New York feminism. After completing her MA in Fine Art and Central Saint Martins, Cianciulli was shortlisted for The Ingram Prize. Cianciulli combines painting, performance, digital media, and augmented reality to consider the female body in the post-feminist media age. Her work reflects upon the entangled and co-dependent nature of millennials and the internet, responding with absolute transparency to modern narrative conventions that are an inextricable part of her reality. The understanding of the self in contemporary digital culture is influenced by a not-so-obvious layer of technology. New tools and software redefine what is possible to be as subjects in media culture, while we constitute ourselves through these very means. In this system of unattainable representation, the production of identity falls into a state of uncertainty at the expense of subjectivity. In her newest body of work, Sofia Cianciulli confronts themes of sexuality, identity deconstruction, and body commodification in digital culture. Through self-portraits, which are conceptual representations of modern practices, the artist reveals the idea of the project and triggers a confrontation with idealized representations of identity.