The Spectres and Simulacra
In his work Simulacra and Simulation, Jean Baudrillard explores how, in postmodern culture, reality and its representations have become blurred. He introduces the idea of simulacra—copies of things that no longer have an original. A state where reality has been overtaken by its representation, a ‘hyperreality’. This can be demonstrated by the transformation of a blueberry through successive forms. As a fruit, it exists as the 'thing itself. But once blueberry-flavoured bubble gum is invented, a simulacrum is born. The gum mimics the blueberry’s flavour but lacks its substance. As it evolves into blueberry gum-scented car fresheners and beyond, each successive form drifts further from the original, eventually becoming a ghostly shadow, a spectre, with no tangible connection to its source.
The spectres in my work exist as representations of lost meaning. They exist in a new state of hyperreality, ghosts, transparent and void of substance. My spectres, which often appear as abstract, ghostly figures haunt my canvases, and embody this idea of disconnection from an original form. These figures, neither fully present nor absent, blur the boundaries between what is real and what is simulated.
In their detached, state, the spectres serve as placeholders for the unseen forces of history, ideology, and memory that linger beneath the surface of contemporary life. They question what is left of meaning after it has been reproduced, distorted, and commodified through cultural, political, or media narratives. The once substantial has dissolved into hollow representations, much like how the blueberry becomes a transparent version of itself as it is abstracted into bubble gum, car fresheners, etc.
This constant distancing from the original, as seen in the blueberry’s transformation through simulacra, reflects a broader cultural phenomenon where ideas, symbols, and identities are endlessly reproduced and stripped of their original depth. My spectres are the visual representation of this postmodern condition. They linger at the edges of reality, reminding us that the more something is reproduced or appropriated, the further it strays from its essence, becoming nothing more than a trace—a haunting spectre. Just as the original blueberry becomes intangible, so too do the narratives of the past fade into shadows, barely recognisable under layers of reinterpretation. Yet, these spectres are not merely passive images; they actively provoke viewers to confront the invisible forces shaping their perceptions of reality, urging them to look beyond the simulacra and question this constructed hyperreality.
