In this part of a photographic trilogy, we encounter a woman in three roles – three presentations, three contexts, three interpretations. The works play with symbolism, body language and visual imagery to reflect on existential questions of the present: How free are we in a world that constantly sees, evaluates and shapes? Where does self-empowerment begin, and where does it end in pretence?A still image with great tension.
The woman looks at her smartphone, seemingly lost in thought, while a goldfish swims in circles in the glass bowl in front of her – under constant observation.
In reference to Michel Foucault's concept of the panopticon, it becomes clear that even without a visible observer, the system of control still functions.
The smartphone becomes the normative authority of the digital public sphere.
Gold as a recurring motif refers to the economic structures behind this supposed self-determination.
Here, beauty becomes a mask of conformity.