Let me reflect on that

Artist: Nina Morris

Contact: 0273833390
IG: @Nina.morris.art
[email protected]

Piece: Let me reflect on that

Medium: Acrylic on canvas

Size: 297 x 420 mm

Original for sale

Description: Does Instagram influence young adult women negatively?

This series portrays a visual commentary of the potential effects that frequent use of Instagram and adding “desirable” images of ourselves, leads to an excessive focus on appearance, clothing, and over glamourised examples of leisure times. As one of the models said, “I am an encyclopaedia of mirror selfies.” The faces of each figure are featureless, and this has resulted in them being anonymous, or as an “everywoman.” This points to a type, rather than an individual. Inspiration for this series is drawn from the naïve genre and a reduced colour palette has been used. Techniques include the use of blurred line or lack of sharp edges, bold colour pairings in some work and muted colours in others. The introduction of icons to each work, hints at larger social concerns, as is seen with the addition of dark birds, lending a sense of potential threat to each innocent scene. Mirrors have been used to show figures in reflective positions.

These very icons speak also to the theoretical framework of broad social critical theory as it relates to social media use by women, and the potential hazards of this use, such as body image disturbances, a distorted focus on what beauty is and what is a ‘friend’ not who.