The future is hyperreal

PHOTOGRAPHY

Mar 27

Shane Lim’s ongoing series The future is hyperreal is a response to hyperreality. He creates tension by blurring the lines between natural and unnatural, to arrive somewhere neither real nor unreal through the juxtaposition of nature as subject and its distortion through digital process.

Text and Photography Shane Lim

From Baudrillard's 'Simulacra and Simulations'

"These would be the successive phases of the image:

It is the reflection of a basic reality.
It masks and perverts a basic reality.
It masks the absence of a basic reality.
It bears no relation to any reality whatever: it is its own pure simulacrum.

In the first case, the image is a good appearance: the representation is of the order of sacrament. In the second, it is an evil appearance: of the order of malefice. In the third, it plays at being an appearance: it is of the order of sorcery. In the fourth, it is no longer in the order of appearance at all, but of simulation."

“To create tension in blurring the lines between natural and unnatural, to arrive somewhere neither real nor unreal.”

About Shane

Shane Lim (b. 1993) graduated from the National Film and Television School with an MA in Directing Fiction.

His debut short film November premiered at the 25th Singapore International Film Festival and was later nominated for the Golden Reel for best short film at the 31st Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. In 2019, November was added to the Asian Short Film Archive in the University of Toronto’s Mississauga Library.

He has since made numerous shorts, among them a trio of films experimenting with hybrid forms – together, they reflect the impact of social media in the lives of young people. Vessel premiered on Vimeo's ‘Staff Picks’, #L4L screened at the 31st Filmfest-Dresden and Into the Ripple received a nomination for best student film at the 5th Birmingham Film Festival.

His first music video for Rina Sawayama’s Alterlife, conceptualised and shot in 24 hours, premiered on VICE and was later featured on VOGUE, THE VINYL FACTORY and KALTBLUT.

As a director, he seeks emotional truth and grounds daring experimentation in heartfelt storytelling. His work aims to provoke questions about culture and society with the hope of creating dialogue to encourage change.

To see more of his work, visit his website, follow him on Instagram or check out his Vimeo channel

Enjoyed this article?
Like ZERO.NINE on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and Instagram

Gumsucker by Rory King mourns the vanishing Australian wilderness and the quiet erosion of spirit that follows. Through haunting, tender images of isolation and resilience, King’s work traces the tension between nature and civilization, where loss, memory, and belonging intertwine in a poetic reflection on the fading frontier and its lingering ghosts.

Close to Home

In Close to Home, photographer Laura McCluskey turns her lens toward her grandparents’ house on the Isle of Sheppey — a place filled with memory, love, and quiet change. Shot over a decade, the project tenderly explores family, belonging, and the healing power of returning home.

No Woman’s Land

In No Woman’s Land, photojournalist Kiana Hayeri and researcher Mélissa Cornet travel through seven Afghan provinces to document women’s lives under Taliban rule. Through intimate portraits, interviews, and collaborative artworks, the book offers a vital record of gender-based persecution — and the extraordinary resistance of those living through it.

Florida Boys

Florida Boys is a five-year photographic project by Florida-based photographer Josh Aronson that reimagines coming-of-age in the American South. Travelling Florida’s backroads with young men, Aronson stages tender, atmospheric scenes that explore masculinity, belonging and landscape. The images are presented in his exhibition at Baker–Hall (Miami, FL), on view October 18 – November 22, 2025.

Unyọñ Ufọk (Going Home)

London-based Purist Gallery presents Unyọñ Ufọk (Going Home), an intimate photo-and-film exhibition by Nigerian-British artist Emily Nkanga. From 9–11 October 2025, the show navigates grief, memory, and the emotional terrain of “returning home” through visuals rooted in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria.

From Runway to Rave

The after-show party for Matières Fécales’ latest collection at Paris Fashion Week unfolded deep into the night, a striking extension of the brand’s provocative vision. The queue outside already told us what to expect – this was the place to be. A following unique in the Fashion world, Hannah and Steven create a world, where music, art and fashion collide in the best possible way.

CHEMTRAIL: This is Killing Us

For the forthcoming exhibition CHEMTRAIL: This is Killing Us in Soho, London, artist and photographer Matt Ford has created an accompanying zine that cuts through the noise around Chemsex. Commissioned by Impulse London, the exhibition shines a stark light on the impacts Chemsex – physically and mentally. The subject remains taboo, often reduced to statistics or hidden from public view. Ford’s zine and the rest of the exhibition refuse to let that happen.

Birds of a Feather

Claire Rosen’s Birds of a Feather is a sumptuous new photobook that captures 120 live birds in vivid portraits staged against ornate, historically inspired backdrops. Blending art history, design, and ornithology, Rosen’s decade-long project reflects on beauty, belonging, and humanity’s complicated relationship with nature.

Saṃrachanā

Saṃrachanā is a photographic meditation by New York-based artist Haren Mehta, exploring Rajasthan’s cultural architecture through the luminous setting of Jaisalmer. Blending symbolism, tradition, and innovation, the series reflects on how form becomes language, honouring Rajasthan not just as a destination but as a living composition of identity and craft.

Fruiting Bodies

Photographer Ying Ang’s latest photobook, Fruiting Bodies, debuts at the New York Art Book Fair. Exploring mushrooms as biological and feminist symbols, Ang’s intimate images challenge conventional ideas of fertility, aging, and the female body. The work reframes postmenopausal life as a site of intelligence, presence, and quiet power.

Actions on Béjar: Memory, Participation, and the Visual Poetics of Place

In the Spanish town of Béjar, once a thriving textile hub, participatory art and photography converge to explore memory, absence, and collective imagination. Acciones sobre Béjar transforms public spaces and personal narratives into visual and poetic archives, revealing the town’s past, present, and potential futures through dialogue, gesture, and community.

Now You See Me

We are proud to present Now You See Me, an editorial by Barcelona-based photographer Sofia Luz. Inspired by the book of the same name, the series explores lesbian identity through striking visual codes, celebrating resilience, visibility and authenticity. Luz’s bold imagery bridges past struggles with present-day expression, offering a powerful ode to diversity and the beauty of living unapologetically.

Blue Valentines

In Blue Valentines, Russia-based artist Ida Anderson transforms the fragile form of a postcard into a vessel for memory, loss and longing. Using the cyanotype process, she renders Moscow in shades of haunting blue — part love letter, part elegy. Juxtaposing tenderness with unease, these images ask what it means to belong, to leave, and to remember a homeland fractured by war.

The Enchancted Ones

In The Enchanted Ones, photographer Stephanie Pommez invites readers into the mystical world of the Ribeirinhos, the river dwellers of the Brazilian Amazon. Shot entirely on 35mm black-and-white film over three years, her work captures the profound bond between nature, myth and community. Centering on traditional midwives, the book unveils a culture where ancestral knowledge, storytelling and the unseen converge, blurring the boundaries between reality, memory and imagination.

A Quiet Homage

A Quiet Homage invites viewers into a contemplative space where art history and contemporary sensibility meet. Drawing inspiration from the harmony and sensual poise of the Italian Renaissance, the series reinterprets classical motifs through a modern lens of sustainability and restraint

Icons of the Wild: Africa in Focus

Icons of the Wild by Swedish photographer Johan Siggesson is a celebration of Africa’s most recognisable animals – elephants, lions, cheetahs, zebras and more – captured in their natural environments without staging or interference. Using low, wide perspectives, Siggesson creates intimate yet respectful portraits that highlight both the animal and its surroundings. This series honours the quiet strength and presence of wildlife, reminding us of what endures and deserves our attention.

Low and High

With a sharp eye for atmosphere and emotion, photographer Burak Yasar turns his lens toward the hidden world of nightlife. His work captures not only the surface energy of music and movement, but also the fleeting, vulnerable moments that emerge in the shadows.

(Some)bodies and (Some)things

Berlin-based mixed media collage artist Rita Evs explores fragility, trauma, and the notion of “home” within a multicultural context. Her work transforms everyday elements into unfamiliar forms, prompting viewers to look anew at what they think they know.

Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer

Photographer Michéa Nathan captures the soul of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer during its annual pilgrimage. Each May, this small Mediterranean village becomes a meeting point for faith and tradition, as thousands gather to honor Saint Sarah the Black in a celebration that unites communities through music, devotion, and shared heritage.

Fighting for Identity

This shoot, Fighting for Identity, draws a parallel between the boxing ring and the everyday battles of living authentically as a transgender woman. The gloves and gear embody societal pressures, while the model’s presence radiates resilience, vulnerability, and defiance. Juxtaposing strength with femininity, the images challenge outdated notions of gender. It’s a story of exhaustion, courage, and ultimate triumph—the universal fight for respect, dignity, and freedom.

The Body Is Not A Thing

Through intimate portraits of actors, dancers, sex workers, and mothers, the work navigates the raw and often uncomfortable space where desire and maternal identity intersect. “The Body Is Not A Thing” is a photographic exploration of the tensions between autonomy, sexuality, and motherhood. Conceived during lockdown and shaped by a political landscape increasingly hostile to women's rights, the project interrogates how women are viewed and how they view themselves in a culture saturated with the male gaze.

Paw Paradox

Paw Paradox is a thought-provoking project by German photographer Caroline Heinecke that explores the surreal history of animal trials — where pigs, insects and even elephants were brought before human courts. By blending AI-generated imagery with documentary photography, Heinecke investigates the shifting boundaries of legal rights, ownership and agency between species.

Days on the Way

Shot entirely on an iPhone inside the women-only carriages of the Tehran–Karaj metro line, Days on the Way is Parastoo Ghahremanifard’s raw and poetic study of in-between moments. What begins as a daily commute unfolds into a meditation on silence, repetition, and quiet defiance. Parastoo documents a suspended reality where exhaustion is etched into faces. In this overlooked public space, the everyday becomes a stage for both weariness and resilience.

ENNUI

With ENNUI, Giuliana Borrelli reflects on the quiet weight of disconnection and the search for self within the spaces we call home. Moving between her childhood home in Italy and her current life in Norway, the project traces a deeply personal journey — one marked by silence, longing, and the slow, transformative act of reclaiming identity.

Soumoud In Dark Times

In Soumoud In Dark Times, Palestinian artist Rehab Nazzal documents life under siege in the West Bank during Israel’s intensified occupation from October 2023 to November 2024. Through 41 poignant images, she captures devastation, resilience, and the visual truth of a people resisting erasure during what many have called a live-streamed genocide.

Bravo

In Bravo, artist Felipe Romero Beltrán crafts a quiet yet powerful meditation on migration, identity, and resilience along the US–Mexico border. Set within the charged landscape of the Rio Bravo, his work captures the tension of waiting, where absence speaks as loudly as presence and time itself becomes a suspended, fragile state.

You Never Walk Alone

You Never Walk Alone, a photo series by Katya Ilina, offers an intimate portrait of London’s K-pop fandom. With warmth and clarity, Ilina captures a vibrant subculture where predominantly female and queer fans reclaim space, challenge gendered biases, and transform shared passion into a powerful expression of identity and joy.

Chrysalis

Chrysalis is a visual series by Georgiana Feidi, a Cluj-Napoca–based artist whose work bridges digital and analogue techniques. Exploring Earth as a living organism in transformation, Feidi blends surreal imagery, post-processing and ethereal tones to reflect on nature’s cycles, human interconnectedness, and the quiet power of planetary renewal.

What truly defines us?

Elzbieta Zdunek’s digital collages explore themes of identity, perception, and the pressure of external judgment. Her work questions how many versions of the self exist, shaped by context and subjective interpretation. Through repeated visual elements, she highlights the cyclical nature of human behaviour, the illusion of choice, and the constant tension between how we see ourselves and how we are seen by others.

Lipsticks

Objects hold stories. Not just in their use, but in their wear, their shape, and the silent they witness. In the intimate space where beauty meets routine, something deeper is revealed. This project by Stacy Greene began with a glance, but quickly unfolded into a quiet investigation of identity, memory, and form.

Christian Trippe

The future is hyperreal

Shane Lim’s ongoing series The future is hyperreal is a response to hyperreality. He creates tension by blurring the lines between natural and unnatural, to arrive somewhere neither real nor unreal through the juxtaposition of nature as subject and its distortion through digital process.

“To create tension in blurring the lines between natural and unnatural, to arrive somewhere neither real nor unreal.”

READ NEXT

YHWH [and the Birds of Appetite]

The mystical underworld of Fe