Uncovered: Challenging Social Media's Body Bias

In our increasingly digitised age, it is becoming harder to separate the social from the technological. Social media, AI and new technologies have begun to touch every corner of our contemporary lives; the spectre of Big Data casting a dominant shadow

over our every move. As more and more people join the conversation fostered by activists/researchers such as Dr Joy Buolamwini, Cathy O’Neill and Safiya Umoja Noble, the struggle for online agency and equity grows. A need for transparency and accountability is crucial if we are to live in a society where everyone can feel safe, seen and secure when engaging with each other online. UNCOVERED ambitiously and defiantly explores the role platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, X (formerly known as Twitter), and others, play in the intersections of mental health and body image. Featuring a collaborative series of works spearheaded by artist Sam Dawood and including Jennifer McCord and Lydia Reeves, the series aims to harness the power of collective artistic action. Creatively subverting the nakedness of the subject’s bodies, they speak out against the harmful, and often unregulated, censorship of fat Black femme bodies online. Offering an illuminating encounter with sculpture, photography, and the dialogue between the two, the artists express the need

for policy change.

 

Having the privilege to curate the exhibition, and contribute towards this book, I have witnessed the days, weeks, months and years of dedicated research and commitment poured into this project by all involved. I hope the exhibition, and the associated book, will be an entry point for those wishing to understand the real life implications of existing in virtual spaces as a marginalised person.

 

Genevieve Barton

Curator