BLUE WHALE 2022
Video Installation
5 of 19 drawings (colored pencils on Fabriano paper 48 x 34 cm)
FHD video, color, sound, 5:58 min, screen
Blue Whale bridges drawing and digital animation to investigate the darker side of online culture and the commodification of vulnerability. Named after the notorious “Blue Whale Challenge” that spread across social media with the hashtag #f57, the video animates the artist’s hand-drawn figures, genderless bodies stripped of identity, exposing what the skin conceals.
The piece reflects on self-representation, violence, and the fragility of connection in digital space. By merging traditional drawing with moving image, Jacomella Bonola reclaims the human gesture within a technological medium. Blue Whale transforms a viral phenomenon of despair into a visual elegy, a haunting reminder of the thin line between expression and erasure in virtual existence.
Foto credit: Kilian Bannwart
Kunsthalle Luzern, "Über den Bleistift hinaus", 29.10. - 18.12.2022
Curated by Michael Sutter