Faux Real

Sidney Cherie Hilley is a multidisciplinary artist and writer. Her work encompasses poetry, video, performance and wearable art. She has degrees from University of Cincinnati in journalism and poetry. In 2018 she launched Sidney Cherie Studios, through which she creates and sells wearable art.

While at Wave Pool Hilley curated Faux Real. Pulling from the rapidly imposing threat of deepfakes, a ‘technique for human image synthesis’ which imposes sound and movement onto a person’s image, Faux Real is a thought-experiment show on what sentiments, opinions, and stories we would tell when our identity is shed. From the audience and participant standpoint-- how are our stories translated when we experience them through a different mouthpiece? From the artist’s standpoint-- what perspectives are we willing to share when we have a fake identity sharing them? What stories would we tell if its transposed onto a celebrity or public figure? Would these stories be more confessional? Would they feel more personal or impersonal? While there is a dystopic and abject facade of deepfakes; Faux Real is also an experiment in the benefits of storytelling through an anonymous mouthpiece. Using a persona to convey your truth via pseudonyms, performance alter-egos, avatars and more.

Due to the COVID19 pandemic, much of the exhibition was online.