Constellation: An Avatar

In December’s video from artist Juliana Horner, she transforms herself before our eyes using makeup and digital effects. This month, we find her persona, Claropsyche, known widely on Instagram, “summoning the highest quality cosmic pearl droplets by any means necessary.”

I feel that in the past, I would have opposed using an app like Photoshop to alter an image of myself. I would have tried to be true to myself, or what I believed to be true to myself. But was I not still ‘editing’ by being selective of the images I chose to share with others? Humanity will always edit; it is our definition of editing that will change over time.

I believe that more people will become comfortable with the idea of digitally editing themselves, unattached to the idea that their physical bodies should match the image they’ve made as technology progresses. Not only does it take much longer to alter the physical self rather versus the idea of self- there are limits. And regardless: is it not thoughts that plant the seed of reality? There would be no car without a preexisting idea of a thing that moves to take you from one place to the other, there would be no videogame without its creator’s fever dream . . . I welcome imagination with open arms. Unreal is real enough for me—better, even.

Gradient: An Avatar

Artist Juliana Horner, known widely as her persona on Instagram, creates extraordinary makeup effects. She brings her unabashed creativity to us with a special series of videos. This week, a first glimpse.

Horner tells us more: “Times are changing. As technology continues to press into the social realm, the shape of our tools outlines how we create, identify, and PLAY. With quick access to camera and video technology, people around the world are sculpting themselves in ways previously unknown to the darkroom. The makeup industry is booming, and apps used to both define and contort are becoming a fixture of internet culture and self expression. Real-life communication and video game fantasy grow closer each day; in a way, we are each creating our own AVATAR . . . which player are you?”

Here, in the museum: a spectacle! To the melody of “Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity” from The Planets by composer Gustav Holst.

Look for a new installment from Juliana Horner next month.

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