Smile (2020)*
Digital video, 00:03:43 loop
supplants 4k video footage of my non-smiling eyes onto the blush face emoji. This superimposition questions the authenticity and sincerity of body language in general, but examines specifically how emotions are performed, communicated and convoluted th rough symbolic or digital media.
Complexity is further added to the flattened emoji form through the work’s duration and potentially infinite loop, as the eyes blink with discomfort with the passing of time. Encountered via social media, the eyes give this coy emoji an uncannily intrusive quality. When physically installed, the work commands attention like a clock face or celestial object.
*"Smile (2020)" uses the emoji "Twemoji12_1f60a.svg" by Twitter, licensed under CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
