Photo Credit: Rena Schild / Shutterstock.com
If your mother ever asked you “is this where you want to be when Jesus comes back?”, then this is the situation she was referring to. Nude photos of an alleged Scarlett Johansson were recently leaked on the Internet, and now those same photos are popping up all over Hollywood. Appearing on street corners and boarded-up storefronts, the images are part of a street art installation by Xvala, and Scarlett Johansson is merely the latest subject in the growing exhibit. Xvala’s mission appears to be to get people thinking twice about their actions, and the inclination of society to share their information with technology. Interestingly enough, West Hollywood society has become very interested in not sharing Xvala’s work, as he has asked the community to stop stealing his art from the streets.
The campaign is called Fear Google, and the project has featured the reproduction of several celebrity nude and private leaked photos with stylization by the artist. Sensational outlets, like E! Online, have discounted his work as a publicity stunt, but the entire scope of his portfolio backs up the fact that he truly has a message about transparency in this digital age. Xvala’s work uses celebrities to get people thinking twice about the information they readily give up to companies like Google, Twitter, and Facebook.
Controversy follows Xvala’s work whenever he installs it on city streets, and he has hit everywhere from Santa Monica to San Francisco, but it remains to be seen if his message will have any effect on the masses. Scarlett will surely think twice about allegedly taking naked pictures of herself, but can it change the actions of the general public?
For more of Xvala’s work trumpeting the need to remove the Internet from our lives, check out feargoogle.com or look for Gregory Linton's interview with the artist on HuffPost.
Photo Courtesy of Jennifer Leigh Strauss Photography
Photo Courtesy of Xvala
Photo Courtesy of Xvala
