BORN NOWHERE / BORN NOW HERE – MYA
Laís Pontes is a London-based photographic artist exploring the manifold ways that characters are developed and constructed on social media platforms. Inspired by the multiculturalism of her home country Brazil, Pontes investigates the notion of social media as an extension of the self and the fluidity of identity in contemporary society. To this end, the artist uses her own body and life to stage experiments on various social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram and OkCupid. Her process allows others to directly contribute to the creation of the work, encouraging viewers to develop a critical view of social media and its effects on our everyday lives. In Born Nowhere, the artist created a series of self portraits and modified them using digital technology transforming them into a diverse cast of female personalities whose character was developed through comments made on Facebook. In Born Now Here she revisited the characters and deepened her socio-psychological investigation by developing their crowd-sourced identities into real activities, relationships and behaviours.