Part of Hybrid Realities :Lab 1 (Lab → Output)
Virtual installation, Newart.city
Saffia Land constructs a dream-like digital environment shaped by the visual language of early internet culture, online games and fandom communities of the 2000s and 2010s.
At the centre of the space is Saffia, a fictional famous Black woman in her twenties, accompanied by her companion Fluffly, a pink bunny-shaped creature. The environment functions as a virtual time capsule filled with objects, merchandise and imagined collaborations with well-known companies and brands that formed part of the artist’s childhood.
Large 3D models, animated objects and interactive elements populate the environment, encouraging visitors to move freely through a landscape enveloped in pink fog. Logos, magazines, collectibles and playful references appear throughout the space, creating an immersive world built around the figure of Saffia.
The project reflects on how children form attachments to characters, toys and branded identities. In this context, Saffia becomes both imagined role model and commercial persona - a figure that embodies the tension between personal identification and profit-driven marketing.
By inventing a fictional celebrity whose presence saturates the environment, Saffia Land explores how media icons, merchandise and digital culture shape identity, aspiration and joy during formative years.
Visitors are encouraged to explore the space freely: flying through the environment, discovering animated moments and encountering Saffia’s presence throughout the landscape.
Nadirah Dankwa