Ctrl + Shift Feminism: Embracing the Ugly with Ann Hirsch and Maya Man

Words: Sihaam Naik

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With an increasing emphasis on always looking perfect, it’s no surprise that our culture rewards ‘effortless’ beauty over perceived ugliness. With the ideal becoming more and more specified and unattainable - like the eponymous Instagram face - does embracing the ugly become a subversive act? Enter stage-right artists and collaborators Ann Hirsch and Maya Man, whose work focuses on themes of aspirational femininity on the internet. 

Born out of frustration with the watered-down commodified feminism that’s been popular online over the past few years, they wanted to make something as a reaction to the commercialisation of women's liberation in the NFT world. “We wanted to make an NFT collection that didn’t just represent us, but embody us,” said Maya. They went live with their first collaboration in January 2023, an NFT collection titled ‘Ugly Bitches’, aimed at pushing back against this ‘empowered women’ rhetoric that is twisted into selling things to women.

For ‘Ugly Bitches’, the duo sourced thousands of product images of dolls, ran them through a generative AI machine-learning model, and filtered and edited them through the comments often left under female influencers' Instagram pages. “Hello, beautiful sexy girl” turned into “Hello, ugly bitch”, as they swapped ‘positive’ compliments with “ugly” and “bitch”. The result? A messed-up-looking doll NFT paired with an absurd comment that pushed back against the feeling that women need to adhere to the perfect aesthetics pushed upon us by social media.
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I met the two of them on a staticky Zoom call to discuss all things ugly. The two are quick to coalesce themes on beauty standards, stating that things changed so quickly in the age of the influencer, especially now surgical and cosmetic enhancements have gotten so accessible. “There's just increased pressure on people to look perfect every day,” Ann impresses. “In addition to that, there's also this moral purity demanded of people, which has become skewed where now everyone has to portray themselves as this perfect person.’

Following their viral NFT collection, Ann and Maya were invited to perform at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles and wanted to create a limited-edition physical object to accompany the performance. Maya explains the pair planned together to create “a creature that represented the spirit of the Ugly Bitches collection.” Dolls have always been a symbol of aspirational femininity for women over the years, which is precisely why they wanted their toy not to look human-like, or animal-like - just weird and freaky in its own right.

With its patchwork design and mismatched features, Little Ugly became the perfect manifestation of this vision. Made from a mix of cosy fleece and shiny satin fabric, each Little Ugly is unique, reflecting the diversity and unpredictability of the digital world it represents. Ann elaborated on the process of creating Little Ugly, musing, “The plushie was designed to wear the ‘ugliness’ of the Ugly Bitches NFT collection like skin, with images and comments collected from female influencers' Instagram posts printed onto its fabric.”

“Made from a mix of cosy fleece and shiny satin fabric, each Little Ugly is unique, reflecting the diversity and unpredictability of the digital world it represents.”

Ann and Maya's transition from online to physical art was a natural evolution. Maya explained, "I feel excited about translating into not only work that exists on the screen but also a variety of physical mediums,” Little Ugly wasn't just the physical object of the toy itself but also the centrepiece of their performance lecture at MOCA. In this performance, Ann and Maya explored the impact of social media on gender, self-optimisation, and identity. Dressed as cult leaders in Elizabeth Homes-coded black turtlenecks, the two artists used satire to dissect the absurdities of online culture. 

They also spoke about Ugly Bitches as well as their latest NFT collection Little Darlings - the hustle-core looks-maxxing antithesis to Ugly Bitches. Little Darlings featured action figures toys created with a text-to-image model, produced with comments from the comment section of a fitness bro Instagram page.

“Until that point, we didn’t have the chance to explain the collection and our inspiration behind it publicly,” Ann tells me. According to data extracted from their audience at the show, 99.9% of the members felt ugly. Their performance encouraged audience members to “get free” from the shackles of comparison, moral purity and aspirational aesthetics. What better way to resolve your vain sins than to cop your own Little Ugly and get inspired by her ugliness - inside and out?