OPTIMISTIC NIHILISM
(2022-
‘Optimistic Nihilism #1-5’ (2022)
For us Millenials, technology is an inherent part of our upbringing. Since I was a child, I have felt a strong fascination with outer space and science. This world holds an unbelievable natural beauty, this interconnectedness of nature in its many similarities; molecular structure and synaptic connections in brains mimic a cosmic network. The internet has made us more connected with one another, like nodes, but we seem to be more distant or complacent about physical human connection than before its invention. We cannot separate ourselves from technology as it has morphed itself with our lives and society, this conscious and unconscious parallel we find our species in, we now cannot exist without it.
Sonification
‘Optimistic Nihilism #6-10: Sonification’ (2022)
Audiovisual monitor slideshow
5 x 30 second clips
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This project explores holistic and transcendent ideologies through imagery and sound via various digital mediums, allowing for an expanded understanding of the gestalt relationship between visual images and sound.
‘Optimistic Nihilism #11: Sonification’, (2022)
Audiovisual wall projection
2 minutes 24 seconds
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The data-projection work portrays a glitched dance performance to a soundscape that has been created from digital image composites of the dancer and Milky Way. The second screen depicts moving pixelated images, the sound element was again created via image sonification. In this project, I am exploring the malleability of digital data. I have utilised data conversion techniques to translate images to sound, known as sonification. The project expands on themes of interconnection and introspection via multiple digital mediums. I seek to communicate an experience of space and a transcendent understanding of connection with the broader universe. These soundscapes were designed to emulate the feeling of space whilst considering methods of sound healing meditation. The audience must indulge in each audio-visual track to experience this journey, letting the sound flow through you.
‘Optimistic Nihilism: Character Select’ (2023)
This facet of project, my intention is to explore the interconnectedness of human experiences and provoke contemplation about the nature of reality and personal identity. By incorporating video portraits and the concept of character selection from video games, I aim to create a more intimate and relatable experience for viewers. Through the deliberate blurring of boundaries between reality and computer-generated imagery, I seek to evoke the uncanny valley phenomenon and challenge viewers' perceptions. By employing glitch aesthetics and fast-paced transitions, I aim to create a unique visual language that engages and holds the viewers' interest. Ultimately, my project delves into the core themes of existentialism, inviting viewers to reflect on their own experiences and perspectives while contemplating the complex interplay between reality and subjective perception.
‘Optimistic Nihilism: Aura Portraits’ (2023)
My primary goal was to advance the interactive artwork component of my project, "Optimistic Nihilism," focusing on the "Aura Portraits" segment. This phase aimed to explore human auras and their digital, interactive representation. I planned to use an infrared depth camera to capture participants' movements and translate this data into dynamic digital auras in real-time. The installation was designed to allow users' movements to influence the colors and patterns of the auras on screen. However, given its work-in-progress status, the Studio 4 installation featured a one-channel recorded loop instead of live interactivity. This recorded version demonstrated how the final installation would function, displayed on a 32-inch TV screen mounted in portrait orientation to engage viewers with the digital auras.
This phase in Studio 4 visually demonstrated the potential of bringing aura concepts to life through digital technology. It was a crucial step in my larger project, providing insights and feedback for the final presentation. Although incomplete, this installation set the foundation for developing a fully interactive and immersive experience in future stages.
‘Optimistic Nihilism: Nature's Imitations’ (2026)
This exhibition explores the theme of mimicry and imitation in nature, revealing unexpected connections between the microscopic, the human and the cosmic. Through a series of comparative images I explore how patterns, forms and structures recur across different scales of existence—from molecular arrangements invisible to the naked eye to life-size phenomena that we encounter in our daily environment. This series illuminates the surprising ways in which visual and structural echoes appear throughout the world, prompting reflection on both the complexity and the simplicity inherent in nature’s design. By removing clear points of reference, scale is destabilised, encouraging the viewers to reconsider how meaning is constructed through perception.
Building upon the themes of interconnection, perception and human experience developed in my Optimistic Nihilism project, this body of work investigates the resonance between seemingly disparate systems. From the cellular level of algae and skin to the sweeping patterns of rivers, salt lakes and planetary surfaces, each image encourages viewers to trace visual links across scales and contexts. This project invites a reconsideration of how we perceive our place within the interconnected web of existence, revealing the underlying harmony and repetition that links all forms of life and matter.
Left: Saint SInclair Salt Lake, South Australia (2025). Digital photograph captured with a DJI Mini 3 drone by Sionainne Costello
Middle: Digitally altered aerial image of the salt lake, modified to resemble the microscopic pattern of plantar skin, visually bridging landscape and body
Right: Microscopic Plantar Skin. Credit: Alvin Telser (July 27th, 2016).
Left: Saint SInclair Salt Lake, South Australia (2025). Digital photograph captured with a DJI Mini 3 drone by Sionainne Costello
Middle: Digitally altered aerial image of the salt lake, modified to resemble the microscopic pattern of plantar skin, visually bridging landscape and body
Right: Plantar skin section at 10x magnification. Credit: Michael W. Davidson and The Florida State University.
Left: Pascagoula River Bridge Swamp, Mississippi (2025). Digital photograph captured with a DJI Mini 3 drone by Sionainne Costello
Middle: Digitally altered aerial image of the swamp, modified to resemble the MRI patterns revealed in the brain, visually bridging landscape and body.
Right: 100 Micron MRI of Human Brain .Credit: Edlow, Brian L.; Mareyam, Azma; Horn, Andreas et al. (2019). Data from: 7 Tesla MRI of the ex vivo human brain at 100 micron resolution [Dataset]. Credit: Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.119f80q
Left: Petrified Wood Forest National Park, Arizona (2025). Digital photograph captured with a DJI Mini 3 drone by Sionainne Costello
Middle: Digitally altered aerial image of the petrified wood, modified to resemble the dry skin.
Right: Damaged dry skin at the microscope. dry pell piece of human skin under the microscope, dead skin microscopic layers show it in white semi translucent tissue hanging above an injured piece of growing new skin. Credit: ID296045351 © Jonathan Hugo Jiménez Gómez | Dreamstime.com
Left: Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park, Western Australia (2025). Digital photograph captured with a DJI Mini 3 drone by Sionainne Costello
Middle: Digitally altered aerial image of the beach, modified to resemble the solar flares of the sun with thermal energy and kinetic movement.
Right: NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, launched in 2010, continuously monitors the sun in multiple wavelengths to study its dynamic activity. Credit: Released Nov 1, 2015 by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Intersections of Scale #1-11
Left: The Champagne Pool at Rotorua Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Park, New Zealand (2024) by Sionainne Costello
Right: Ring Nebula, otherwise known as Messier 57. Hubble Space Telescope.Credit: NASA, ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser), warping and recolouring by NN.
Left: Swamp Pow Camp Recreation Area, Mississippi (2025)
Digital photograph captured with a DJI Mini 3 drone by Sionainne Costello
Right: Beech hedge leaf — microscope image showing the pattern of chloroplasts (frame approx. 5 mm across). Credit: PjrMicro, 28 May 2022.
Left: Swamp Pow Camp Recreation Area, Mississippi (2025)
Digital photograph captured with a DJI Mini 3 drone by Sionainne Costello
Right: Microorganism or virus cells, algae microorganism cells under microscope. Rapid multiplication of bacteria. Infection and germ. Microbiology, popular scientific black background. Credit: ID266483390 © Elif Aytar | Dreamstime.com
Left: Orakei Thermal Park, New Zealand (2024)
Digital photograph by Sionainne Costello
Right: Close-up of the surface of Saturn with vibrant swirls in orange-yellow color. Credit: djovan (30 November, 2024)
Sinclair Salt Lake (South Australia) compared to Plantar Skin at 10x magnification. The soundtrack is created via sonification (sound) conversion of the visual data in the images used.
Pascagoula River Swamp (Mississippi, USA) (compared to 100 Micron Brain MRI scan. The soundtrack is created via sonification (sound) conversion of the visual data in the images used.
Leeuwin Naturaliste National Park (Western Australia) Ocean Waves compared to Solar Flares. The soundtrack is created via sonification (sound) conversion of the visual data in the images used.