Ubaida Akhtar

Artist Statement

My work explores the relationship between the human body and the smartphone, focusing on how our constant interaction with technology has changed the way we use and experience our bodies. Rather than looking at the phone as an object, I am interested in how it has become so familiar to us that it can almost feel like an extension of the body.

I observe and document the different positions and gestures people make while using their phones, from everyday familiar movements to more unusual and uncomfortable looking poses. In my paintings, the phone itself is absent. Instead, I focus on the hands, body and posture, allowing the gesture to suggest the presence of something that is no longer visible. Each painting shows a different position of the same figure, creating a sense of repetition and continuous interaction.

I am particularly interested in the emptiness within the body. Parts of the figures are left hollow and blend into the surrounding colour, creating a feeling of absence within the physical form. The figures exist within enclosed spaces of mostly bright colour, creating a contrast between the presence of the body and the emptiness within it.

Through these paintings, I am exploring how something external can gradually become part of our everyday physical behaviour. The repeated gestures of holding, looking and reaching towards a phone have become so familiar that they can happen almost without thought. I am interested in this point where the phone is no longer simply something we hold, but becomes part of how we move, position and experience our bodies.