DIGITAL PRESENCE, ANALOGUE ABSENCE

RYAN KEARNEY

It wouldn’t be bold to state that digital culture is a form of indoctrination. On daily basis celebrities appear on our social media feeds incessantly - the same images reappearing again and again. I feel as though the digital is becoming an archive of celebrity images; millions of images of celebrities can be found online with dozens, sometimes hundreds of size variations for each image. This repetition through the digital is changing our notion of the icon - this reptition is making them into icons. These celebrities are looked up at by many and for those that don’t look up to them, their presence is still there.

The results are shocking when one compares the presence of celebrities iconified by the digital to the presence of LGBTQA activists. The contrast in presence is shocking. The digital presence of the celebrities alone does not equate to their overall importance, but it reflect’s their cultural importance and therefore their importance to people on the digital.

It is digital presence which dictates to us the digital importance of a figure. It is the amount of Google searches that dictates their popularity and subsequent cultural importance of a figure. Digital is perpetuating celebrity culture which is stripping the meaning of the followiwng people and their importance. Despite contributing their life’s work and subsequently their life to a movement, it does not compare to a celebrity.

The images are violent and display the troubles and subsequent death of the activists alongside celebrity imagery in order to reiterate their importance whilst also comparing it to that of the celebrity.

THE POWER OF DIGITAL PRESENCE

See some of society’s most unknown murdered activists wearing some of the latest celebrity images from the internet.

Photography: Ryan Kearney

© 2015