Untitled

This work of Maria Hassabi belongs to a photographic series of distorted figures and body parts. The performer’s right hand appears in motion, painterly, exploring interplay between reality and perception. Hassabi used golden mirrors to capture reflections of dancers’ movements, abstracting the body beyond the naked eye, commenting on media shaping our perspectives. This body of work began with her solo show “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, capitalism, and kitsch pop culture, with a connection to spirituality. This photograph also appears in her “Mirrors” installation presented at Art Basel Unlimited (2024) and ENNOVA Art Biennale (2024–2025) in China. Her gesture blurs movement and stillness, space and time, subject and viewer, while also inviting us to reconsider our own image in today’s digital age.