Shane Lim

Title: The future is hyperreal

About the Photo:

‘the future is hyperreal’

To create tension through blurring the lines between natural and unnatural, to arrive at something neither real nor unreal through the juxtaposition of nature as subject and its distortion through digital processes – this series is a response to hyperreality.


It is 2021 and our realities have become indistinguishable from the internet of things. COVID-19 isn’t the first pandemic humanity has endured nor will it be the last, but for the first time in history the hyper connectivity of our world has allowed for simultaneous social engineering on a global scale.
In this time, the insidious transition of ‘human’ to ‘cyborg’ has rapidly accelerated through an increased dependence on data and screens to qualify our realities. The collective consciousness is undoubtedly “plugged in” – we countdown the days before our bodies follow suit.

The move towards Kurzweil’s ‘Singularity’ is now no more a prophecy than a collective effort and any calls to slow down have gone largely ignored. In this collection of images, I look upon nature with this gaze and wonder if the trees could bear witness what they would say. I sought to find balance for my technophobia by mustering a reluctant optimism for the state of things – that wherever we end up, let there still be room for beauty.