KCR WINTER 24:25 Magazine FINAL 1 - Flipbook - Page 21
Dion Joy:
ALEXANDRIA’S GENESIS
15 November 2024 – 12 January 2025
arebyte Gallery
Java House, 7 Botanic Square, London City Island, E14 0LG
arebyte Gallery is pleased to announce Alexandria’s Genesis, an exhibition by British-Nigerian interdisciplinary artist Dian Joy. Taking its title from
an internet myth – a copypasta – this exhibition situates itself between beliefs, insecurities and desires to form a fan昀椀ction of a fan昀椀ction. Operating
in the dystopian struggle between disinformation and information, fake and real, Alexandria’s Genesis explores how reality may be mutated, augmented and propagated by any means possible. At its core, it is a study of the social life of ideas, in the digital age.
The myth of Alexandria’s Genesis – once relegated to the obscure corners of the internet – has circulated on online forums and social media, evolving into many forms. A rumoured genetic anomaly, transforming people into long-living “perfect human beings” with violet eyes and 昀氀awless pale
skin, gave those with the condition strength and vitality. Circulating online since 1998, the conspiracy was created by “Daria” fan昀椀c writer Cameron
Aubernon to explain her too-perfect female characters, gaining traction and spreading widely until it was eventually medically debunked. This sticky
narrative, told as an illusory truth, o昀昀ers a seductive deception of genetic superiority – a story that blurs the line between desire and reality, shaping
perceptions of identity and feeding fantasies of perfection that favour youth, shimmering white skin, lack of hair beyond what was there at birth,
perfect bodies and purple eyes.
Stories like Alexandria’s Genesis are not just myths – they are adaptive narratives that morph and survive, shifting with the anxieties of the moment. As social media enables their rapid spread, they o昀昀er an illusion and a breeding ground for ideologies to take root and grow, from harmless
entertainment to tools of cultural and political in昀氀uence. In this exhibition, Dian Joy invites us to consider how narratives – whether in the form of
fan昀椀ction or something more sinister – re昀氀ects deeper truths about power, identity, and the underlying social and political dynamics they exploit.
www.arebyte.com
