‘Manifestations of a Cyborg Girl’, 2025, is a virtual archive/zine of photographs and text I have created, responding to Donna Haraway’s ‘A Cyborg Manifesto’. Each artwork attempts to merge the post-pornographic with cyborg feminist theory, creating a distorted, seedy vibe for the viewer. Donna Haraway’s theory posits that the lines between animal and machine are so blurred that titles of race, gender and sexuality are entirely inadequate markers and classifiers for human beings. Rather, Haraway suggests that as a society, we ought to accept the title of ‘Cyborg’ as a reflection of our technologically transformed bodies. Whilst somewhat pessimistic to acknowledge humans’ dependence on technologies, Donna Haraway suggests that through the adoption of technologies, women can both advance their autonomy, whilst also deconstructing what it is to be ‘Woman’ and ‘Human’. Further, this project draws on Legacy Russell’s manifesto ‘Glitch Feminism’, which illuminates the liberties provided to women, queer people and people of colour in digital spaces that allow you to transform/adapt your identity to the surrounding digital environment. Essentially, the person using these spaces can identify as however they please, and show or mask as much of their identity as possible. How this project engages with these two theories is by first depicting how I view a ‘Cyborg’, by featuring cyber sigilism, as well as technological disruptions in my photos. Further, platforming my works exclusively through a Quasi porn website entirely coded by me. Through this space, the models are allowed to identify however they please, with bios and autonomy over how they want to be depicted on the internet. Further reiterating a seedy and ominous vibe throughout the site by employing pop-up ads, distorted text, and sinister captions to my pictures.
I wanted each shoot to be somewhat inspired by different pornographic tropes. For Virgin Mary, I wanted to play on both catholic guilt, as well as the innocent, virginal figure so often depicted in pornography. This is seen through the soft, hazy glow, minimal makeup, and bondage to make the model appear vulnerable to the audience. For Marie-Antoinette, I wanted to play off of the feeder kink by featuring her subtly eating cakes,surrounded by treats and having a somewhat regal appearance in the picture. For the Fairy-Tale shoot, I wanted to play with the ideas of fantasy in porn by depicting my model as a fragile, fairy-like sprite. Finally, the High Priestess, I depicted in front of a church, unlike my other staged shoots. This was so the images felt kind of special, like the website was rewarding the viewer with something different based on their “loyalty” or exploration of the site.
Each photo was heavily augmented through Photoshop, either by drawing cyber sigilism or distorting the colours, as well as exaggerating the bondage to reiterate cyber aesthetics throughout the piece. Further, I used Photoshop to create distorted 1990s-2000s-inspired pop- up ads to further reiterate the seedy, somewhat corrupted vibe of the website. Each element was made to entice the viewer to click on the ads, taking them to a distorted image of my model, Amelie, to disturb the viewer, as if they had been ‘hacked’ by the website.
I wanted to start the website with a sign-in function, to almost hold the viewer accountable to the website and the information they see, as well as make them complicit in the content that they see. The idea of consenting to the images establishes a relationship between the viewer and the website, whereby the viewer forgoes some of their own autonomy to view the photographs, essentially handing it over to the cyborg girls.
I intentionally made a bunch of pop-up ads and easter eggs throughout the works for people to view. Each pop-up ad redirects the audience to cursed images. Some of the links will ‘unlock’ the high priestess image gallery. Some of the ‘click me’ buttons show videos of the fairytale model typing, situating her in a liminal cyber space. Finally, there is a blessing section from the high priestess that, if you click on the link, takes you to a warning, asking you to exit the website. Each element is intentionally created to draw the viewer further into the website, inspired by other Neocities creations. However, each distortion reminds the viewer that the website is slowly taking control over the viewer. I kept the aesthetics of the website very reminiscent of HTML websites from the 90s and early 2000s, as older websites typically evoke an attitude of distrust in the viewer.