Keelin Sutcliffe
she/her
Skin Proxy
Keelin Sutcliffe explores the boundaries of identity and agency within digital culture through a two-channel video installation accompanied by a surround sound audio piece. Projected onto skin-like translucent screens and suspended in self-made aluminium frames, 'Skin Proxy' embodies the intersection of material fragility and digital fracturing.
Based on research surrounding the agentic state and the Proteus effect, Skin Proxy examines how online anonymity and avatar-based self-representation influence individual behaviour. In these digital third spaces, users often act in ways divorced from their offline identities, motivated by mob mentalities and performative perception. This installation focuses on the ways in which responsibility becomes diffuse when mediated by screens, and how imagined digital selves alter real-world conduct.
By synthesising these digital dynamics in physical form, Keelin highlights the porous boundary between the physical and virtual, where selfhood is continuously reformed under the eye of a perceived audience.
Research