Jemima Campey: Watching Me, Watching You
Jemima Campey: Watching Me, Watching You
When:
Exhibition continues until Saturday 29th October, 2022
Details:
Working with both appropriated material and creating new photographs, Watching Me, Watching You presents a selection of Jemima Campey’s recent works, united by their focus on the intersections of contemporary culture, online behaviours, and performance.
Drawing from the writings of Rayne Fisher-Quaan and her own experiences growing up during the rise of social media, Campey utilises video and photography to parse out smaller elements of online life and subcultures that may not be well known to those who do not engage with particular trends or platforms.
In removing these images and videos from their context, they become surreal and often humorous in their absurdity. It is no secret that social media has grown into a force that possesses the power to infiltrate almost every part of our lives, and as a result the idea of curating and performing a persona is no longer a concept reserved for actors.
For some, it is no longer enough to simply exist, life must be performed and documented for an often unknown and unseen audience. The existence and knowledge of this audience increases awareness of how we are perceived by others. The question then becomes how does one reconcile the need to present the most desirable and often times marketable self while maintaining a casual authenticity in online spaces?
How do you present your emotional experiences as sincere and genuine when you have commodified your existence and become a brand?
How do you accurately represent yourself in spaces where you have the briefest of spaces to ‘sell yourself’?
And what are the impacts of adopting a moral superiority within your online persona and brand, how is this superiority received by your target audience?
Watching Me, Watching You does not claim possess the answer to questions raised by social media, instead considers how authenticity and perception come into play in various online spaces, be it on dating apps or within influencer culture.
Artwork credits: Jemima Campey, That’s All I Have to Say, 9 Channel digital video (2021).
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Jemima Campey (Ngunnawal/Ngambri lands, Australia) makes photos, performances, installations and films. Through the use of appropriated and reworked materials which are borrowed from a day-to-day context, she touches various overlapping themes and strategies, such as performance, memory, and contemporary culture. Utilising art as a means of self-exploration, Campey’s text and photographic works are often deeply personal, providing insight into the act of making art in contemporary culture. She graduated from the Australian National University in 2021 with degrees in English and Visual Arts, where she is currently completing her Honours in Visual Arts.