The Social Media Muse

The social media influencer is becoming a prominent trope in contemporary media culture. In her Instagram performance artwork Excellences & Perfections, Amalia Ulman imitated the content and lifestyle of different types of influencers for five months in 2014, gaining attention and inciting controversy when she finally revealed her hoax. She captured problematic aspects of performativity online, examined how it related to tropes and myths in our culture, and ultimately to our sense of identity. By analysing images from her work and comments from her followers at the time, this thesis aims to understand how her art acts as a commentary on issues of digital labour and self-representation through images