Ms. Meta Meta is a series of satirical videos made in the style of trendy YouTube video tutorials led by my sassy social media alter ego, Ms. Meta Meta. Paired with an AR filter, a virtual utopia establishes a new beauty standard that embraces visible flaws and questions long-held beauty standards that promote a porcelain complexion and smooth, blemish-free skin. The work critiques digital consumerism and harmful global beauty standards by adopting the language of the beauty industry and its promises of perfection in the form of digital beauty filters and image manipulation by subverting the very notions of beauty and beauty routines conducted by social media  influencers.

Short film version
12:53

Ms. Meta Meta leads viewers through her surreal tutorials that accentuate rather than hiding visible flaws, like pock-marked skin, using highly questionable techniques, such as a “donut glow” face cream and the application of brightly colored candy sprinkles. The work amplifies an aesthetic of artificiality with its dominant use of magenta, an extra-spectral color that isn’t associated with monochromatic light. The AR filter brings Ms. Meta Meta’s tutorial video products to life, and visitors can experiment with their own beauty routine by using AR versions of Ms. Meta Meta’s products and procedures. The experience, overall, is a cyberfeminist, dream-like world where beauty standards have been upended and are replaced by new, irreverent, and playful ideas.