Artist Scotty So creates self portraits that examine the way identity is constructed, performed and consumed. Anchored in drag performance and informed by his Thai and Chinese heritage, So’s practice employs humour and irony to unpick the iconography of luxury fashion as well as queer and popular culture references. Placing his own body at the centre of his work, he adopts fictional female personas that challenge cultural stereotypes and explore the commodification of contemporary media.
In Seeking affirmation of a mother, So’s image merges with the holographic likeness of media personality Kris Jenner, matriarch of the Kardashian–Jenner family. An AI-generated version of Jenner’s voice completes the transformation. The work reflects the possibilities and unease created by artificial intelligence, but also directly references episodes from the television series The Kardashians, in which holograms become surrogate stand-ins for other family members. So’s monologue as Jenner alternates between lavish praise and biting criticism of So’s own artistic practice, exposing a desire for recognition but also a vulnerability. In this digital illusion, which hovers like a ghost, Jenner becomes a means for So to turn his gaze back on himself, transforming the borrowed likeness into a self portrait that questions whose voice ultimately shapes creative identity. Playful yet unsettling, the work extends So’s ongoing interest in drag as transformation, and the boundaries between performance and selfhood in an age of AI-generated images and personas.
Purchased 2025
© Scotty So, courtesy of MARS Gallery
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves.
Serena Bentley talks to multidisciplinary artist Scotty So about drag, mother figures, holograms and the performative nature of identity.
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