Untitled

Maria Hassabi’s photograph is part of a series portraying distorted figures and body parts. The performer’s left hand is presented here in motion. Hassabi used golden mirrors to capture reflections of dancers’ movements, abstracting the body beyond the naked eye and serving as commentary on the media’s influence on ways of seeing. This body of work began with her solo exhibition “I’ll Be Your Mirror” (2023) at Tai Kwun in Hong Kong, addressing the plasticity of one’s own image. Gold mirror panels multiplied the dancers, making plurality and distorted reflections apparent. As visitors step into the frame, dancers overlap with their reflections, and viewers are (in)voluntarily exhibited as art subjects. Gold plays with ancient and contemporary myths, spirituality, capitalism, and kitsch pop culture. This image also appears in the large-scale installation “Mirrors” presented at Art Basel Unlimited (2024) and ENNOVA Art Biennale (2024–2025) in China. Painterly, it explores reality and perception, portraying an illusory presence that blurs stillness and movement, space and time, subject and viewer. It encourages a re-examination of one’s own image in a fragmented age, reclaiming a sensitivity often dulled by rapid visual consumption.