| Project Title | “The Algorithm and the Other” |
| Location | YouTube, TikTok, Substack |
| Dates | June 2025 – Current |
Artist Statement
My work explores the complexities of female expression and desire, particularly within the evolving landscape of technology. Initially working with acrylic paint, I have transitioned to working with digital moving image and performative lectures, mediums that allow for a more embodied and dynamic engagement with these themes.
Influenced by feminist philosophers such as Simone de Beauvoir and Hélène Cixous, my practice is rooted in the interrogation of gender, identity, and the politics of representation. Inspired by Cixous’ concept of ‘écriture feminine (writing the body), I seek to create work that disrupts traditional narratives and give space to the raw, unfiltered experiences of womanhood.
A key question driving my work is whether technology serves as a liberating space for female self-expression or if it merely reinforces patriarchal structures through algorithmic bias. In an era where digital platforms shape and mediate our identities, I am fascinated by the tensions between visibility, agency, and surveillance. Through performance and film, I aim to confront these contradictions, exploring the ways in which women’s desires, voices, and bodies are both amplified and constrained in the digital age.
My work is an ongoing dialogue – between the body and technology, between history and the present, between oppression and autonomy. Through experimentation and interdisciplinary practices, I strive to create art that challenges, questions, and reimagines what it means to express femininity in contemporary society.
Contextual Statement
This research-led project explores the question ‘Can women authentically represent themselves online on patriarchal, algorithmically governed platforms?’. The work comprises of four components: three short-form digital moving image works, and a final video essay in the form of a performance lecture. The videos were published on YouTube, TikTok, and Substack – platforms whose algorithms strongly regulate the effective visibility of content, particularly that of female-identifying creators. The goal of the work is to intervene within these algorithmic systems – to test, resist, and expose how they inscribe, commodify, or suppress authentic expressions of femininity.
The project is situated at the intersection of feminist theory, digital culture, and moving image art. It builds on Laura Mulvey’s (1975) theory of the ‘male gaze’ and John Berger’s (1974) exploration of how women have been conditioned to internalise their objectification: “Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at.” This recursive self-surveillance has been exacerbated by digital platforms, where algorithmic systems – while appearing neutral – are in fact commercially driven and ideologically encoded.
It is important to note that algorithms are not explicitly directed – no-one is writing code that bumps up posts proportional to visible cleavage. Rather, the algorithms are designed to promote whatever content is most effective at driving user engagement and retention.
These systems (or rather, multiple platform-specific algorithms) reward content that conforms to narrow ideals of femininity: youth, beauty, emotional legibility, and affective labour (Vu, 2020; Feltman & Szymanski, 2018).
A practice-based, multi-modal methodology underpins the project. By creating three separate but thematically connected video works and distributing them across multiple platforms, the project increases its presence across algorithmic feeds. This strategy is not just about dissemination – it is a critical method of amplification, reflecting Sadie Plant’s (1998) cyberfeminist call to use digital tools subversively. Rather than attempting to escape the algorithm, the work enters it repeatedly, seeking cracks through which non-conforming femininities can be seen.
The creative outputs differ in form – ranging from experimental with a biographical element, satirical, and performative – and seek to explore how women are mediated differently through digital aesthetics. Each work challenges dominant visual codes, resisting the polished, platform-optimised performances expected of female creators. Instead, the videos feature foreground glitching, slowness, opacity of interpretation, and contradiction. They lean into the messy, embodied expression described by Hélène Cixous (1976) as Écriture féminine – a writing (or imaging) of the body that escapes patriarchal logic.
The fourth element, a video essay in the form of a performance lecture, reflects on the process, research, and the platforms themselves. Drawing inspiration from Mark Leckey’s audiovisual storytelling (such as In the Longtail, 2009), this format bridges academic critique and emotional narrative. It situates the visual works within a broader critical context, making visible the tension between self-expression and systematised control online.
The project is deeply embedded in a socio-cultural and geo-political moment where digital presence equates to power – particularly for women whose visibility is simultaneously demanded and policed. As Sherry Turkle (1995) notes, digital life collapses boundaries between reality and simulation, complicating efforts to articulate unfiltered identity. Yet, movements like #MeToo have shown that online platforms can be tools of collective resistance (Britannica, 2019; Mossburg, 2022). This project asks not just whether authenticity is possible, but who defines it, and who writes us in algorithmic space. By occupying these platforms through critical art practice, the project aims to interrupt, intervene, and reclaim agency within the coded architectures of the gaze.
Video 1: “chmod -x innocence”
“chmod -x innocence” Episode 1, 2025. Digital video still. Created using iPhone 14 Pro, Movavi editing software, Glitch edits, Voiceover narration.
Video 2: meta name = “woman” content = “contradiction”
meta name = “woman” content = “contradiction” Episode 2, 2025. Digital video still. Created using iPhone 14 Pro, Movavi editing software, Glitch edits, Voiceover narration.
Video 3: “How to go viral – Feminist Edition”
“How to go viral- Feminist Edition”, Episode 3, 2025. Digital video still. Created using iPhone 14 Pro, Glitch edits, Movavi editing software, Voiceover narration.
Video 4: Performance Lecture
“The Algorithm and the Other”, Performance Lecture, 2025. Digital video still, Scene 1, Persephone discussing the Other. Created using iPhone 14 Pro, Movavi editing software.
Special Thanks
I would like to thank Boriana Dimitrova-Meister for making incredible music based on my online persona and allowing me to use it in this project. I would also like to give a huge thank you to Francisco Perez Smith, who has not only helped me with the filming of this project but whose encouragement and support has been absolutely vital to the completion of this Masters! What a legend! <3