• Issue
  • Mar 09, 2022

Images of Identity

SIMON FUJIWARAAladdin Who Makes a Wish?, 2022, pastel on paper, 86.5 × 46.5 × 3.5 cm (framed). Photo by Andrea Rossetti. Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin.

Nowadays, most of us watch the world change through a screen. This was the case for multimedia artist Simon Fujiwara, who observed the torrent of images on social media as the pandemic and social movements, such as Black Lives Matter, revealed societal fractures. Taking a closer look at collective and personal reckonings with notions of identity that were occurring around him, and the mediation of these issues, particularly through social media, he began a new body of work that revolves around Who, the cartoon bear seen on this issue’s cover, who is on a quest to define themself in a world full of projected personas and images. Speaking to contributor Frances Arnold about his latest works, he explained: “In the past I’ve dealt with people who have become like cartoons. But what if I make a cartoon that then walks into the real world and sees it in this reduced way that’s essentially already there?” Tracing the turns in Fujiwara’s practice in her cover Feature, Arnold reveals the artist’s evolving approach to understanding the relationships between identity and image.