My practise lends itself to the oddities of the Internet - from the misogynistic compulsion to condescend the joy of young women, to obscure fan-groups who savour their affections for ponies and doe-eyed anime girls. I examine the ways in which niche, online communities sexualise and berate feminine icons depicted in girls media. The disproportion in my figures parodies the impossible or lewd ways these characters are represented online. Within my work, they are no longer objects of sexual gratification, or vessels for venomous scrutiny from the anonymous Internet user. They are large in scale, grotesque and ever-vengeful. The ways in which I allow acrylic to intermingle, overlap and drip on itself, reference the distortion these characters undergo online. Thick, drooping layers of acrylic and medium reflect the abject chaos within these online communities, and within my research. The aim of my work is to call upon a sense of nostalgia young women may feel for classic anime, 2000s celebrities, or cartoons such as ‘My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.’ To free the icons they should’ve been allowed to love, from strange, digital perversion.
