GAZELL.iO, the digital arm of Gazelli Art House, is thrilled to present a joint display of works from renowned digital artists Ana MarĂ­a Caballero (B. 1981) and Melissa Wiederrecht (B. 1988) for Art Dubai Digital 2024. Presenting brand new artworks, these artists convey intimate, yet universal, portrayals of selfhood, in all of its complex manifestations.

About Art Dubai Digital 2024

Ana María Caballero delivers a multifaceted rendition of self in the performative poem Waiting Room (2024). Tying into her own strong spoken-word history and poetry’s tradition of orality, Caballero performs her verse on screen, using her own body to speak the language of the poem for the first time. Her text’s narrative twists with the vicissitudes of caretaking. The intersecting Spanish, translating to “You, Me, Ours”, is a play on words that shifts the speaker's intent. The formal division in Waiting Room prompts us to question the permeable boundaries between caring for ourselves and caring for others. Waiting Room is from Caballero’s prize-winning, forthcoming book Mammal. The collector will receive a signed print of the poem.

Elsewhere, Melissa Wiederrecht’s two self-portraits provide an insight into her individual experience as a Muslim woman. Composed using AI, generative textures, and Photoshop, these works showcase manifold aspects of self, via figurative and abstract imagery. In colourful bursts that vibrate with the artist’s trademark mesmerising graphics, the artist confronts themes, including Western prejudices surrounding religious belief, and existing as a woman within the art world.

Caballero and Wiederrecht’s debut collaborative piece Miss Metaverse (2024) uses the beauty pageant concept and rhetoric commentary to grapple with what “self” means living as an artist in the world of Web3. Presented as a selection of some 50 generative artworks, each iteration reveals a new correlation of words, strung together in response to prompts that reflect and satirise the spectacle of these competitions. Harnessing a camera to interact with the audience, Miss Metaverse pulls the image of the viewer into the pictorial plane and, in a sense, onto the stage.

About the Artists

Ana MarĂ­a Caballero

Ana María Caballero is an award-winning, multidisciplinary literary artist. Her work explores how biology delimits societal and cultural rites, ripping the veil from romanticized motherhood and questioning notions that package sacrifice as a virtue. She’s the recipient of the Beverly International Prize, Colombia’s José Manuel Arango National Poetry Prize, the Steel Toe Books Poetry Prize, a Future Art Writers Award and a Sevens Foundation Grant. In 2024, she became the first living poet to sell a poem at Sotheby’s. Recognized as a digital poetry pioneer, her work has been nominated for a MAXXI BVLGARI Prize in the Digital Sector, shortlisted for a Lumen Prize, been a finalist for both the Vassar Miller and Academy of American Poetry Prizes and exhibited in museums, galleries and public spaces worldwide

Melissa Wiederrecht

Melissa Wiederrecht (b. 1988) was raised in Wyoming, but lives and works in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. From 2006 to 2014, she studied at the University of Wyoming, obtaining both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science. Since graduating, she has employed code and algorithms to create abstract compositions that evoke a connection to the infinite. While her artistic medium relies on technology, it explores how these generated outputs can connect to timeless and ancient concepts. Wiederrecht chose to live her life as a Muslim woman, immersing herself fully while also being surrounded by Sudanese people and culture. She actively participates in a movement of Generative Art, participating in online communities and presenting code-based art on the blockchain. With her art, Wiederrecht aims to celebrate the strange and beautiful blend of these diverse cultures, showcasing how they coexist and influence one another in a harmonious symphony of creativity.(b. 1988) was raised in Wyoming, but lives and works in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. From 2006 to 2014, she studied at the University of Wyoming, obtaining both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science. Since graduating, she has employed code and algorithms to create abstract compositions that evoke a connection to the infinite. While her artistic medium relies on technology, it explores how these generated outputs can connect to timeless and ancient concepts. Wiederrecht chose to live her life as a Muslim woman, immersing herself fully while also being surrounded by Sudanese people and culture. She actively participates in a movement of Generative Art, participating in online communities and presenting code-based art on the blockchain. With her art, Wiederrecht aims to celebrate the strange and beautiful blend of these diverse cultures, showcasing how they coexist and influence one another in a harmonious symphony of creativity.