Jana Lohde

My disbelief and rejection in the accuracy of perception and possibilities of representation resulted in photographic images filled with layers of digital and physical manipulation. I destabilize the state of perceived reality through addition of layers, filters and distortions to the primary state of information. Furthermore, I question the complex network and structure that translate the information from the signifier into the signified. I construct photographic fictional environments and incorporate appropriated images and text into the work. The key research explores the fluidity of perception, the fine line between fiction and multi-layered reality, the copy, the replica, and possibilities of representation in the digital age. I draw strong references to the contemporary phenomena of mass consumerism and advertising in the search for the perfect and true self. The human body becomes trapped in a state of constructed and simulated reality with its own laws, beyond which it becomes impossible to escape. What is the distinction between ‘nature’ and ‘convention’; what is the distinction between the ‘actual’ materiality and virtual ‘immateriality’?