Past | Digital Destiny

By Michael Woods

16 - 27th August

After a successful showing at this year’s Venice Biennale MUSA International pavilion, celebrated Melbourne photographer Michael Woods brings his thought-provoking multimedia exhibition Digital Destiny to Australian soil in September 2022.

Digital Destiny blurs the lines between photography and 3D animation to create imaging masterpieces that pose questions about our digital footprints and their correlation with our present and future lives: how does the idea of online success manipulate our current person? What impact does this have on who we become? On the opportunities that present themselves? Or, in some cases, the opportunities that don’t?

“People are becoming more and more obsessed on a day-to-day basis with their online presence,” Woods observes. “It’s very interesting how people will manipulate themselves to look, dress or act in a certain way according to a trend. Instagram and Facebook are forcing creators to think ‘portrait,’ while TikTok has coined the death of any video longer than three minutes. These changing trends and how you adapt your content – or yourself – can mean success, money, and fame, or for some these moving and changing digital trends can mean the fall of an empire.”

Michael Woods has worked commercially and artistically throughout Australia’s photographic industry for almost a decade. Inspired by cinema, the 26-year-old photographer’s practice marries a distinct sense of hyperrealism with the elegance of contemporary photography. In 2017, Woods snapped an iconic panoramic photo of the moment Australia said ‘yes’ to same sex marriage, a springboard moment in his career. Since then, he has been published internationally in cookbook Shannon’s Kitchen, has worked closely with brands like Campari, Chadstone, Broadsheet and more, and launched his solo exhibition Dream at the Meat Market in 2019.

Digital Destiny is showing at No Vacancy from Wednesday 7th September to Sunday 11th September 2022.