Focusing on celebrity culture and body modification, Siniša’s work digitally reimagines public figures (be they politicians or celebrities) with an irreverent and ironic eye. Considering the rate at which we consume their images every day through our devices, it doesn’t surprise that our relationship with these images takes the form of an ironic commentary on the connection between technology and the flesh.

Hello Siniša and welcome to Coeval! Can you please introduce yourself to our community?

Hey, firstly thanks for showing interest in my work to be published in the magazine. I’m an Eastern European videographer and image-maker based in London. I spend most of my time on digital archives pulling down images for my personal archive which I’m quite precious about.

In your work, the body occupies the center of the stage. Why the focus on the flesh in our digital age?

I’m visually interested in people more than objects, so it’s kind of a natural focus. I like to film or image-edit faces as that gives me the most satisfaction; the nose is the first body part I see on people. I think we’re past the digital age as we have access to more information than digital but to connect tech with flesh has always been sexy for me - Ghost in the Shell legacy!

There is one famous series of yours that consists of caricatures of political leaders such as Putin, Kim Jong-Un, or a blue-haired Trump: what was the inspiration behind the work?

I’ve been into work on pop culture and I think that leaders’ faces have the same fame effect as pop icons. We consume their public appearances as much as that of Hollywood figures or Getty images: Trump’s original mugshot hit everyone’s feeds!
My friend Shin has asked me to make an image of Trump with his wigs for Mowalola - the blue hair was my test before working with his wig image and it happened to be the final image.

I want to stay on your political leaders series a bit longer. Digital intervention allows you to reimagine these figures and take them off the symbolic pedestal that their social position grants them: how can images impact social change?

I’ve made Putin’s and Kim’s portraits as caricatures, to be seen as non-serious as their portraits usually tend to be. I think my images in general don’t have any social impact as they’re to be understood as fun edits or examples of my creative direction. I was interviewed by Dazed Beauty a few months ago about beauty standards in my images and it’s been quite a joke to explain to them that I’m not trying to change current views on beauty.

Two of the main themes of your work are celebrity culture and a weird reinvention of the body (I’m thinking of the pregnant Kanye West picture): what is, if any, the relationship between the two?

I think celebrity culture and weird body reinvention go hand in hand so I chose to make celebs pregnant based on how much information we have on them thanks to the images produced by paparazzi. To distort them or make them pregnant was a fun, easy and consistent topic for myself that happened to be enjoyed by people who follow my work, but I don’t read much into the internet’s extra feedback.

Any exciting project you’re working on right now?

Yeah, I’m in the final writing stage of a script for my film. It’s been a project I’ve been developing for 2 years now so I’m happy it’s finally taking form. The idea is to shoot it in Spring 2024.

PISS
cd Siniša @sinisaaaaa
photo Grégoire Léon-Dufour @gregoireleondufour
styling Daliah Spiegel @daliah.spiegel and Alessandro Santi @alessandro_snt
model Gleb Sazonov @glebsazonov_

CYBER
cd, edit Siniša @sinisaaaaa
photo Ralf Hersborg @boy___pillow
model Zavier George @zaviergeorgee

ZAV
model Zavier George @zaviergeorgee

JUM
model Jum @jumamachar

CYBER ERROR

model Chen Zhuo @zhuoo_

hair Tasos Constantinou @tasoshair

Images courtesy of SINIŠA

@sinisaaaaa

Interview by DAVIDE ANDREATTA

@base.materialism