Olivia Dunkley

Artist Catalogue

Virtual Exhibition

Playing God

I have always been drawn to nature as well as the mechanical ways humankind has sought to replicate it. Through this, I have been inspired and have developed a materiality that plays between the natural and the mechanical world and the materials and organisms that exist within them. Using this natural imagery, I then distort it using foreign textures and unnatural materials, creating work that may appear natural in its formation but still entirely human-made with clear fabrication.

The conceptual focus behind my body of work is the dilemma of playing god - the desire to create a new and improved human through the lust for power and control over nature. While selective breeding of animals has existed far back in humankind’s history, only recently are we seeing this process, backed by technological advancements, begin to interfere with what it means to be human. This interference can be achieved by directly tampering with human DNA, through genetic engineering, by cyborg-esque technical implantations or by the eerie symbiotic relationship that has formed already between humans and technology. Not only do I want to focus on this possible adaption through a scientific lens but also via a metaphysical/philosophical one.

Humankind possesses both an insurmountable ego and a unique kind of consciousness. Through this, along with the constant drive to attain knowledge and power, it is my opinion that with technical advancement, we now find ourselves on the threshold of an entirely new way of “being”. If we have the ability to be immortal and control every gene and every atom on Earth, what would really stop us?

The idea of gods and the elite human hunter at the top of their food chain has existed since ancient times, and our constant drive to create better and better technology can only mean this age-old desire would be hard to resist. Through my final body of work, I have experimented with many different textures and formations, allowing natural and unnatural imagery and materials to collide and intertwine. I have also chosen to bring a more technical aspect of work through digital sculpting and 3D printing. Through reproducing work through the 3D printer, I have taken advantage of the speed and mass production. This has allowed me to create many more intricate forms and textures. Each piece aims to capture the attention of the viewer by drawing them into the strange collision of textures and forms. The imagery is intended to create a sense of entanglement, making it unclear where the natural and mechanical start and end are. My use of 3D printing conceptually speaks to the constant act of replication and automation. This fits in with the overall theme of replicating biological forms and beings as well as the broader scale of technology’s impact on automation. Through using the 3D printer, I find parts of my own production automated; this echoes the time in which we find ourselves questioning the possibility of the tools we create taking over from humanity entirely.