Nicole Bitas’ un/becoming examines the weighty, silent irony of our digital age in which the banalities of our everyday life have become highly curated for an audience and public perception determines the very nature of our being.
Through this exhibition, Bitas positions her figures within ordinary, transitional spaces, yet with postures that feel conspicuously staged as if performing for an unseen camera. By systematically cropping out their faces, she strips away individual identity to expose the silent, collective anxiety of constantly performing our lives.
Bitas, having gone through her own confrontation of this curated life, can offer a vital insight through a dynamic and expressive color palette and nuanced body language: we only reclaim our true presence when we step away from the performance we create for others. Ultimately, un/becoming is a visual process of both becoming and unbecoming, a deep journey of learning to confront the self in its rawest state, and unlearning the exhausting habit of being for an audience.
Text by Agatha Gawaen
