In introducing the July / August exhibition at the Annex of her Nitroglobus Roof Gallery, Dido notes that she Established the extension to her gallery with the goal of providing young, talented artists an opportunity to showcase their work, but she feels she have not always succeeded in this goal. I would, with love and respect to Dido, dispute this.
One of the major attractions of Nitroglobus is Dido’s ability to provide an opportunity for new talents in Second Life to display their art. Whether it is via the Annex or within the main galley, Dido has consistently been able to showcase the work of people who have subsequently gone on to be highly regarded within the broader Second Life arts community. It is this innate ability to recognise talent – and to challenge and stretch the abilities of established artists beyond their comfort zones – that makes Dido one of the most skilled curator / patrons of the ats in SL, and Nitroglobus one of the foremost galleries in-world for hosting consistently engaging and often personal exhibitions.
Such is the case with Connections, which opened on July 19th, 2024 within the Annex. This is a small but utterly engaging collection of pieces offered by Miu (MiuMira) in what is her first public exhibition of her photography in-world, although she has already gathered deserved recognition on Flickr. Her work mixing colour and black-and-white photography, predominantly avatar-centric and showing a highly skilled eye and touch for post-processing.
Connections is very much a themed exhibition both in focus and tone. All of the images are black-and-white, the majority with highly minimalist backgrounds (and those that do have a visible background utilise a considered depth of field to ensure it does remain a backdrop, rather than becoming a distracting focus for the eyes), whilst the overall tone is set by a quote from Margaret Atwood:
In the end, we all become stories.
– Moral Disorder and Other Stories by Margaret Atwood
First published in 2008, Moral Disorders is an exploration of the interconnectedness of lives and life, the stories within it winding through the lives of parents and children, of siblings and friends, of mentors and enemies from the 1930s through the the present, offering – if you will – an album of photographs written in words, spanning the decades from the 1930s through to the present.
It’s a fitting quote and fitting selection of stories, perfectly reflecting the way Connections offers a visual essay concerning the relationship of the connections between mind, heart and emotions which give the passage of life meaning to each and every one of us. Each image offers an expression of one or all of these aspects of experience, offering a set of images which, as Miu notes herself, reflect the fact that, “We are the authors of our lives, creating our own beautiful adventures and deciding on the main characters within our book”.
For me, more than this, is the fact that Connections reads as a very personal story: throughout the nine images – and with encouragement from Dido – Miu gently reveals how her avatar is very much the digital embodiment of who she is, and how she embraces her own moods, sensitivities and emotions.
Take, for example, Connections (4); the use of the shawl in both hiding most of Miu’s features, the over-the shoulder revealing just a hint of nose and mouth, suggest a person given to a certain shyness and possible introverted self-reflection. However, the shawl also draws attention to the partially-visible tattoo Never Give Up. Even without the rose which tops it (as seen in other images) being visible, the statement speaks to an inner strength, to embraces the lessons of life and the ups and downs of emotions and use them as a means to learn and grow, and also speaks to an ability to support and love.
In this, Miu’s avatar bears much that reflects her own nature, expressions given form through tattoos and via her mode of dress and choice of looks. They combine to tell a story of a person who is very at ease with herself, her heart and her emotions, and who can freely give expression to her inner self, writing the story of her life with each passing day.
A genuinely impressive and engaging collection, and a superb debut exhibition. Highly recommended, and congratulations to Miu and Dido.
SLurl Details
- The Annex at Nitroglobus (Sunshine Homestead, rated Moderate)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 