Archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta 308gsm - Image dimensions 152.4mm (w) x 203.2mm (h)
Susan Hiller's Study for 'The Self in the Digital Age' (2013) is an archival pigment print that explores identity in contemporary society through an ethereal, abstract lens. The composition consists of four blurred, vibrant portraits, each shrouded in layers of colored light and soft gradients. These hazy, distorted images evoke the idea of digital interference, suggesting how technology can fragment and obscure our sense of self. Printed on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta, the archival quality underscores the artwork's conceptual weight, reflecting Hiller's interest in memory, perception, and the evolution of identity in a digitally mediated world. The ghostly figures appear to float, embodying the impermanence and fluidity of personal identity in the digital age.
Susan Hiller (United States/United Kingdom, 1940–2019) was an American-born British conceptual artist renowned for her innovative multimedia installations. Her work often explored themes of the subconscious, paranormal phenomena, and cultural memory, challenging conventional perceptions of reality. Notable pieces include 'Belshazzar’s Feast' and 'The J. Street Project.'
Archival PrintAn archival print refers to a fine art reproduction of museum quality, created using the highest quality materials and methods. These prints are produced on the finest papers and with inks specifically designed to resist color fading over time. Drawings and paintings are reproduced using a fine art printer with exceptionally high resolution, ensuring longevity and preservation of the artwork.
Archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta 308gsm - Image dimensions 152.4mm (w) x 203.2mm (h)
Susan Hiller's Study for 'The Self in the Digital Age' (2013) is an archival pigment print that explores identity in contemporary society through an ethereal, abstract lens. The composition consists of four blurred, vibrant portraits, each shrouded in layers of colored light and soft gradients. These hazy, distorted images evoke the idea of digital interference, suggesting how technology can fragment and obscure our sense of self. Printed on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Baryta, the archival quality underscores the artwork's conceptual weight, reflecting Hiller's interest in memory, perception, and the evolution of identity in a digitally mediated world. The ghostly figures appear to float, embodying the impermanence and fluidity of personal identity in the digital age.
Susan Hiller (United States/United Kingdom, 1940–2019) was an American-born British conceptual artist renowned for her innovative multimedia installations. Her work often explored themes of the subconscious, paranormal phenomena, and cultural memory, challenging conventional perceptions of reality. Notable pieces include 'Belshazzar’s Feast' and 'The J. Street Project.'
I think of art as a first-order practice, as important as sociology, psychology, physics, politics, or whatever.
- Susan Hiller
London-based American artist Susan Hiller was known for her installation art, where the observers immerse in the art to experience it. Trained in Anthropology, she later felt the objectivity in science incoherent with reality. She intended her art to express ideas that might not be objectively sound but are visible and often overlooked in the society. In one of her works, J-Street Project, a montage developed from 2002 to 2005, she successfully reverberated the often forgotten struggle of Jews in Nazi Germany by collecting 303 street names that still bear Jewishness in them. Hiller was influenced by conceptual art, where concepts and ideas take precedence over aesthetics. She acknowledged influence of minimalism and surrealism in her works. She had used myriad of objects and presentation styles, including video, audio, photography, writing, and other artifacts, to express her art. Susan Hiller dealt with ideas such as near-death experience, UFO, paranormal power, ghost, and dream. In her 2004 work Clinic she incorporated near-death experience of 200 people who believed they came back from the grip of death. By exposing such subject matters, in her own words, she wanted to "relinquish factuality for fantasy." (Artist website)
Surrealism began in the 1920s as an art and literary movement with the goal of revealing the unconscious mind and unleashing the imagination by exploring unusual and dream-like imagery. Influenced by Sigmund Freud’s theories of psychoanalysis, Surrealist artists and writers sought to bring the unconscious into rational life, blurring the lines between reality and dreams. The movement aimed to challenge conventional perceptions and express the irrational aspects of the human experience.