Simulacra

Machine embroidery on screen print on transfer print. See below for process information.

Process: I requested that five good friends of mine send me selfies. In an exercise of simultaneous elevation and destruction, I used several processes in layered sequence to render their images unrecognizable. Initially, I inverted the selfies and transferred them to polyester fabric using hand-applied sublimation dyes in a transfer printing technique. Next, I selected the more distorted transfer prints, scanned them in, and used color selection tools in Photoshop to create a selection which was then altered in contrast and sent through a filter to create a transparency which was used for screen printing. Following the screen print, I applied a similar process of color selection to create selections which were even less recognizable. I then sent these new selections through a photo stitch algorithm on PE Design 10 embroidery software to create a single-color embroidery which was embroidered on top of the previous two prints as an apparently random, organic layer of gilding.

This work is a meditation on the way that our image and persona may become appropriated, re-contextualized and used for unknown ends once created. Given that the portraits depict my friends, the final result appears elevated—featuring the golden ground suited for a Byzantine saint and sentimental faux-gilt frames suited for precious keepsakes. Nonetheless, the images become something other; their afterlife is independent of their origin.