# @sfmoma on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DZstjC4AW-d
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/66836683-sfmoma-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/b9cda21a00.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-06-17T19:24:08.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** SFMOMA (@sfmoma) — https://gondola.cc/sfmoma

## Caption

What can drag reveal about the digital systems around us? 🔎

In “Zizi in Motion: A Deepfake Drag Utopia (Movement by Wet Mess),” media artist Jake Elwes (jakeelwes) collaborated with London-based drag performers to bring 21 life-size deepfakes to one digital stage, where they dance to drag legend Wet Mess’s choreography. 

But on closer look, the performers glitch and distort. They visually disrupt. Elwes uses the performance of deepfake drag to show where technology fails, illustrating the gender biases within machine learning technology. By foregrounding the limitations of AI, the artist points to the lack of queer representation in the frameworks that guide technology today. 

Through this project, Elwes explores what “queering data” means, and prompts viewers to consider whether queer communities want to be recognized by these systems or not. 

“As an artist, I’m so interested in when these systems break down. I think there’s a lot of poetry in seeing these algorithms not do what they were originally intended to do”—Jake Elwes

📍On view in the Floor 1 Atrium

_
Jake Elwes, “Zizi in Motion: A Deepfake Drag Utopia–Lilly Snatchdragon”, 2023; SFMOMA, Accessions Committee purchase, by exchange, through a gift of Michael D. Abrams; courtesy the artist and Lilly Snatchdragon; © Jake Elwes

Jake Elwes, “Zizi in Motion: A Deepfake Drag Utopia–Mahatma Khandi”, 2023 (still); SFMOMA, Accessions Committee purchase, by exchange, through a gift of Michael D. Abrams; courtesy the artist and Mahatma Khandi; © Jake Elwes

Jake Elwes, “Zizi in Motion: A Deepfake Drag Utopia–Cara Melle”, 2023 (still); SFMOMA, Accessions Committee purchase, by exchange, through a gift of Michael D. Abrams; courtesy the artist and Cara Melle; © Jake Elwes

Jake Elwes, “Zizi in Motion: A Deepfake Drag Utopia–Charlie Wood”, 2023 (still); SFMOMA, Accessions Committee purchase, by exchange, through a gift of Michael D. Abrams; courtesy the artist and Charlie Wood; © Jake Elwes

#PrideMonth #MediaArt #SFMOMA

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 162
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 4

## Tags

mediaart, pridemonth, sfmoma

---
Copyright (c) Gondola