CLAXO M.
CREDITS
Over the last couple decades, we have become more and more interested in – if not to say obsessed with – extraterrestrial life. However: never have we had any proof, no signs of life beyond our own planet. What if they are in nothing similar to what we imagined? Carl Sagan, for example, gave examples of appearances that are more likely than our current depictions of alien life. But, what if they have been amongst us all along? What if they have an Instagram account?
Claxo M. was born as a fictional Instagram personality, and in the project with the same name by Alejo Reinoso (b. 1981, Ecuador) we see our planet Earth through its eyes. In the photographs, reality looks distorted, as if we are wearing glasses that augment our vision. We see people through a filter, we see things that may or may not be actually there, and we see images that remind us of UFO sightings that have been a craze since the mid-20th century. Although we see the perception of Claxo M., the question remains what such an organism would look like from our perspective, and if it would be anything like science-fiction has told us it would.
Alejo Reinoso is one of three photographers selected by GUP for an online portfolio from all submissions for the PHmuseum Mobile Photography Prize.