Tag: Art 2025

Cica’s 100th in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Cica Ghost, November 2025: 100th

It was off to Mysterious Isle for me after receiving an invitation to visit the November 2025 installation by Cica Ghost, entitled simply 100th. The name reflects the fact that this is Cica’s 100th solo installation in SL – and I’ve been fortunate to cover more than 90 of of them down the years (as well as Cica’s collaborations with Bryn Oh and her special exhibitions for charity events), and it has been a genuine delight to do so.

The installation is framed by a quote from editorial cartoonist, humourist, Monday columnist, and Promotional Manager of The Trenton Times for over 30 years, Frank Tyger. It’s a quote that perhaps aptly sums up Cica and her art:

When you like your work, every day is a holiday.
Cica Ghost, November 2025: 100th

For me, visiting Cica’s installations generally tends to be something of a holiday, as so many of them naturally evoke a sense of fun and happiness which can be infectious, and clearly born of Cica’s own sense of fun and adventure. Even those which have in their time encouraged deeper exploration of themes and ideas have demonstrated a gentle tickling of one’s thought processes and light nudging of emotions rather than demanding we sit up and take note.

Cica’s 100th perhaps offers an added layer of that sense of fun for us to share, presenting as a does a setting and inhabitants looking like they have all be moulded from plasticine (or playdough / playdoh if you prefer) which immediately transports one to memories of younger years and creative expression when rolling, squishing, shaping and pressing lumps of either material to create worlds and creatures of our imaginations; places and things of riotous bright colours, sometimes additionally decorated with things “borrowed” from around the house (in this case – buttons!).

Cica Ghost, November 2025: 100th

100th is a genuinely joyous little setting which celebrates some much we’ve come to associate with Cica’s work: fantastical creatures and insects, funny little houses, blooming flowers, cats and other animals (I particularly like the cow apparently wearing blue wellies!), together with Cica’s signature interactive elements: places to sit or dance, little vehicles to rumble around in and – tucked away and waiting to be found – a little gift from Cica.  All of which is presided over by a very happy Sun looking down from a sky in which dough-like clouds serenely float.

As with all of Cica’s installations, I recommend viewing 100th using the local Shared Environment, and if your system can handle them, with Shadows enabled. And if you’d like to look back through all of Cica’s installations over the years, then why not take a look at her Flickr photostream as well?

Cica Ghost, November 2025: 100th

For may part, I’ll simply congratulate Cica on reaching her 100th solo installation, and raise a glass in the hope of seeing my more!

SLurl Details

  • 100th (Mysterious Isle, rated Moderate)

A Syntax of Absence at Nitroglobus in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Debora Kaz – Syntax of Absence
Creating and inhabiting an avatar is, for me, an act of translation. It does not replace the body; it extends it. The gestures, the gaze, and the silence of this digital body are attempts at language — ways of existing within a space where everything is image and nothing is tangible.
By using my own avatar-character, I transfer fragments of myself into a body that must learn to feel without skin, to speak without a voice, to occupy space knowing that every presence there is also an absence. It is in this tension — between being, existing, and trying to communicate — that the true pulse of my work emerges.

These are the words Debora Kaz uses to introduce the latest chapter in her Invisible Cities art series, entitled Syntax of Absence, which is being hosted by Dido Haas at her Nitroglobus Roof Gallery in Second Life.

Collectively, Invisible Cities thus far comprises Fighting Women, hosted at Nitroglobus in August 2022, The Future in the Present Overflows, presented at Artsville galleries in May 2023 and Essay on Desire, again presented at Nitroglobus in September 2023, and now Syntax of Absence. Together, these installations offer(ed) personal reflections of what it is to be a woman, with Fighting Women focusing on showing the pain and difficulty of being a woman in a world where women have historically been portrayed as objects of desire, exposed to consumption – and how they are encouraged into harmful (and often shallow) rivalry with one another in order to be seen as such.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Debora Kaz – Syntax of Absence

The Future in the Present Overflows, meanwhile expanded upon these themes, encompassing them in a boarder historical context before Essays in Desire took on a more directly personal (to the artist and the observer) exploration of the precepts of desire – notably those of sensuality, sexuality, and eroticism – and how they play a vital role within the process of self-discovery and understanding of oneself.

All three of these past exhibitions were offered in the abstract of “invisible cities”, places which are not physical or tangible, but rather symbolic; shades of light and dark, suggestions of spaces and places sketched from the void and intended to present architecture of emotion intended to backlight, if you will, the core themes and discourse Debora presented in each exhibition, rather than forming a structured part of them.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Debora Kaz – Syntax of Absence

Within Syntax of Absence, Debora more brings together the literal – as in the emotions and perceptions present within the earlier chapters of this series – more directly with the artificiality of the “digital backlighting” of those earlier installations. In doing so, she further explores concepts of self, strength, vulnerability, femininity and erasure. However, she does so through the idea of the self becoming subsumed within the digital.

The women I create live in an in-between state — they want to exist, yet they also want to disappear. They are fragments of myself, of others, and of what society insists on projecting and consuming: the female body as both victim and language, erased as person, highlighted as product.
These investigations unfold into Syntax of Absence, where the body no longer inhabits the city but becomes the code itself. The feminine turns into syntax, command, and conscious noise. Absence becomes language; presence becomes data.

– Debora Kaz, Syntax of Absence

In this idea of the subsumption of the body by the digital, Syntax of Absence in some ways completes a circle that started with Fighting Women: the study of the feminine rising out of a digital landscape to provoke and evoke our thinking, now sublimating back into and becoming lost within the digital.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Debora Kaz – Syntax of Absence

At the same time, it perhaps might also be seen as a wider observation of our current state of our digital engagement today; one in which we gain both a far greater freedom of expression and ability to escape constraints we might otherwise feel, whilst at the same time our ever-deepening involvement (reliance?) on digital means for projecting ourselves and digital (AI) tools for interactions / expression), we also risk further reducing ourselves, became more of the digital noise, our presence reduced to mere data bytes.

In all, another thought-provoking exhibition with layered meaning  / interpretation. When visiting, do please note that Syntax of Absence extends through the main gallery and The Annex at Nitroglobus.

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Carelyna’s Nefelibata in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Akimitsu, October 2025: Carelyna – Nefelibata

Currently open at Akimitsu, a member of the Akipelago regions held and operated by Akiko Kinoshi (A Kiko), is an exhibition of art by ArtCare gallery curator, DJ and artist Carelyna. Entitled Nefelibata, it comprises a dozen images captured in Second Life and then beautifully post-processed to present scenes with a dream-like quality entirely in keeping with the exhibition’s title, which Carelyna defines thus:

Nefelibata is a Portuguese word that translates to “cloud walker”. It describes a dreamer or someone who lives in their imagination, detached from societal norms, literature, or art conventions. Originating from the Ancient Greek words nephele (cloud) and batha (walker), the term is used to describe an unconventional, imaginative, and dreamy individual who thinks and lives outside the box.

– Carelyna

Akimitsu, October 2025: Carelyna – Nefelibata

Among their many character traits, nefelibata embrace solitude and nature. For them, solitude is never lonely; it is a cherished companion. The natural world, meanwhile, is looked upon as a sanctuary offering both peace and contentment in which reflection and, notably, inspiration might be found, the latter thus becoming a muse for creativity and expression.

To the nefelibata, life is art and art is life. The medium – painting, writing, poetry, dance –  are not merely endeavours or performances; they are an expression of existence, both revealing and shaping their identity and worldview. With every word or piece of work they create, they reveal what lies within themselves and exposes an ability to see the world not for what it is so much as for what it might be.

Akimitsu, October 2025: Carelyna – Nefelibata

In this, nefelibatas might be defined as nonconformists. they reside outside of established rules governing their chosen form of expression; as Carelyna notes, “A nefelibata chooses their own path and lives by their own inner truths rather than societal norms”.

All of this is softly, beautifully captured in the twelve pieces presented by Carelyna. In nine of them, individual figures – male and female – are presented.  They are the nefelibatas, the settings in which they are featured presenting clear expressions of the individuality of their dreams, their thoughts, the world as they see it within their imaginations. For all but one of these nine pieces, the faces of the individuals are either unseen or at best partially seen, adding to the idea of them being dreamers; their presence within the pieces as dream-like as the setting itself.

Akimitsu, October 2025: Carelyna – Nefelibata

All of them present the world in terms of its natural beauty, each expressing a dream-like quality  Taken as a whole, the images marvellously present the theme of the nefelibata and underscore Carelyna’s own position as on of these upward-looking artistic nonconformists.

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Cica’s Happy Halloween in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Cica Ghost, October 2025: Happy Halloween

It’s October, which means Halloween sits a-waiting at the end of the month. I’ve noted on numerous occasions that I’m not a fan on the modern take on the celebration, but within Second Life I do like to take a look at region settings and installations that offer a take on things that is a little different to the usual. Such is the case with Cica Ghost’s October installation: Happy Halloween, which she invited me to visit as it opened on October 1st, 2025.

Offered largely in monochrome (the pumpkins and stars being the exception here!), Happy Halloween offers much that might be associated with the modern take on Halloween – but also perhaps applies more broadly to generally spookiness and fun. It even carries with it what might be seen as a little nod towards Tim Burton.

Cica Ghost, October 2025: Happy Halloween

The main Landing Point sits in the sky over Cica’s regions of Mysterious Isle, where can be found the usual request about using the local environment settings, a link to Cica’s on-line store and a tombstone teleport down to the installation proper. The latter delivers visitors to a setting caught under the same star-dusted sky as seen from the Landing Point, complete with a crescent Moon low in the sky.

The quote accompanying the build is a popular take on a line made famous by Franklin D. Roosevelt during his first inaugural address. At the time, America we deep into the Depression, and his words in that address were both solemn and intended to give hope and reassurance. He certainly did not originate the phrase in question – various forms of it have been recorded since the 16th century. The version Cica uses gives it a decidedly humorous little twist:

The only thing we have to fear is FEAR itself – and spiders.
Cica Ghost, October 2025: Happy Halloween

And there are certainly spiders to be found here. They grin and bounce among flowers with equally toothy grins, or sit on stalks as if they are themselves flowers. They share the landscape with bat plants and star plants, all growing out of a dusty ground with tall hills all around, their surfaces pockmarked like the surface of a moon. In places the dust gives way to a checkerboard effect, whilst scattered across the entire setting are bare trees, odd little houses and all the local denizens.

The latter come in many forms: monsters who appear to be out for a lark more than to frighten, ghosts who fade in-and-out of view, black cats, giant pumpkins, crows… the list goes on, and I really don’t want to spoil things by saying too much here – other than the little touch of Tim Burton might be seen in the people also scattered across (over over in one case) the setting as they go about their evening’s business.

Cica Ghost, October 2025: Happy Halloween

As always with most of Cica’s builds, there are various opportunities to be found for interaction within Happy Halloween, and plenty of opportunities for photography and smiles.

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Exploring PBR with Rob Fossett in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
ArtCare Gallery, September 2025: Exploring PBR with Rob Fossett

September 2025 sees a rather novel and interesting exhibition of art at Carelyna’s ArtCare Gallery. Entitled Exploring PBR with Rob Fossett, it is perhaps best described as experiments in various art forms utilising PBR materials.

Of course, PBR is (now) hardly a new component in SL (although it still appears to be controversial for some), and has a lot of practical applications in adding depth and texturing to SL environments, just as the older Blinn-Phong materials can as well. However, whilst commonplace in surfaces using in building, landscaping, and so on – and even 3D art such as a sculptures; its use in 2D art has been somewhat limited, tending to be reserved for very specialised installations.

ArtCare Gallery, September 2025: Exploring PBR with Rob Fossett

Within Exploring PBR…, Rob seeks to change this by offering a range of pieces focused on special and common art styles: bas-relief panels, stained glass, alcohol ink drawings and fractal art (something bound to attract me!), with some touching on impressionism.

The results, presented within a PBR-enabled exhibition space, is an engaging collection of images, arranged by style (so bas-relief is separate from stain glass, etc.). The Landing Point located within the bas-relief section, which is perhaps the most visually engaging of the various sections, given the way PBR really adds a 3-dimensional, tactile depth to each piece.

ArtCare Gallery, September 2025: Exploring PBR with Rob Fossett

Each classification of art is offered for free via touch boxes found throughout the exhibition space, with a request that anyone taking one or more of the boxes please offer a donation to ArtCare Gallery via the associated donation tip jar located in one corner of the exhibition space.

Should you take any of the boxes, do please remember they are experiments in PBR materials and are not actual prim-based art pieces. Don’t try to drag one out inventory after unpacking in order to  view an “image” – if you do, there is a good chance you’re going to end up applying the material to any editable surface you might drag it on to. Instead, to view a specific item, rez a prim and then apply the desired PBR material to it via the edit / build floater, then size the prim accordingly. Also note that being PBR, the surfaces, once applied, will respond to the local lighting (the examples in the exhibition utilise strategically-linked point light sources).

ArtCare Gallery, September 2025: Exploring PBR with Rob Fossett

I’m not going to comment on this exhibition in terms of individual “pieces”, suffice it to say that all of the materials offer engaging expression of art and are attractive enough for applying to your own prims (as noted above) and then displayed as art in your own SL home / personal space, again potentially with a dedicated light source. Instead, I’m simply going to suggest that if this piece and the images within it pique your interest, do go take a look for yourself.

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Catherine’s Skin like Syntax at Nitroglobus in Second Life

Posted on by Inara Pey
Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Catherine Nikolaidis – Skin like Syntax

It was back to Nitroglobus Roof Gallery for me of late, to catch the September 2025 Main Hall exhibition. I was keen to do so as Nitroglobus owner and curator, Dido Haas, has invited Catherine Nikolaidis to display more of her art.

I’ve touched on Catherine’s SL-based  photography on several occasions in these pages. Working predominantly in monochrome with a focus on avatar studies, she has a gift for framing her work as much a photo-essays in reflection of mood, emotion, beauty, vulnerability, and life. Her skill lay not only in the technicalities of composition, framing, processing, cropping, and so on, but in inhabiting her images with a depth of life and subtle detail rich in the power of communication.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Catherine Nikolaidis – Skin like Syntax

This was very much brought home to me some two years ago, when I was able to catch two overlapping solo exhibitions by Catherine, hosted at Frank Atisso’s Artsville Gallery and at the Kondor Art Centre (see: Catherine’s black and white photography in Second Life), and it is further underlined within this Nitroglobus exhibition, which Catherine has called Skin like Syntax. The easiest way to describe this exhibition is to use Catherine’s own words.

Skin like Syntax explores woman and her body as a living language. In monochrome tones, I capture shifting moods and the balance between softness and strength, intimacy and distance.
Through my lens, real life turns into visual poetry, where light, shadow, and emotion blend together.

– Catherine Nikolaidis

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Catherine Nikolaidis – Skin like Syntax

The result is a stunning collection of images rich in context, subtle in narrative and utterly captivating in form and presentation. Within each of them is a story  – or perhaps a poem might be a better term, given Catherine’s description – waiting to be told. In fact, such is the richness of expression to be found in each piece that offering words here is somewhat superfluous – and would merely be subjective on my part.

As such, I will close here, and leave it to you to visit Skin like Syntax and allow Catherine’s unique voice to speak to you.

Nitroglobus Roof Gallery: Catherine Nikolaidis – Skin like Syntax

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