mirror into auntieverse

At Paris Photo 2025, niceaunties presented Mirror into Auntieverse, an interactive installation that reimagines photography as a living conversation between light, memory, and cultural identity. The work extends the Auntieverse into an exploration of reflection and the 'auntie love language': a mode of care expressed through directness, humour, and affection.

An art display featuring a large mirror with an ornate golden frame. Around the mirror are various black-and-white family photographs in different sizes and frames on a white wall. A woman in a white dress and black heels is walking past the display.

the installation

At the centre stands a 19th-century Napoleon III mirror, transformed into a sculptural screen in collaboration with Load Gallery. Equipped with motion-capture technology and a concealed display, it reflects the visitor's body but replaces their face with that of an auntie from the Auntieverse. After a few seconds, the auntie delivers a familiar, blunt greeting from 'Have you eaten?' to 'You look so tired!', reminding visitors how care often hides behind teasing honesty.

Motion tracking allows up to three figures to interact simultaneously, each auntie following the viewer's movement while retaining her own features and expression. Subtitles appear in English and French, bridging humour and cultural nuance.

The work draws on art-historical precedents from Van Eyck to Manet and Asian myths in which mirrors reveal the soul. Here, the mirror becomes a living surface of empathy and critique. In the Auntieverse, a recurring saying is 'there is an auntie in all of us' reflecting the human nature of self-criticism and emotional complexity. The mirror also playfully references fairy tales: where the evil queen demanded, 'Who is the fairest of them all?', one of niceaunties' reflections might quip, 'You la, you are the fattest of them all!' turning vanity into comic self-awareness.

Photo of two people wearing masks with large computer-generated heads resembling a woman and a cat, seen through an ornate mirror in the Grand Palais, Paris, at the Artverse Booth F11. The text overlay reads "Mirror Into Universe: Is an interactive screen that reflects the visitor's body while replacing their face with that of an 'auntie' from the Auntiverse."
An ornate, vintage octagonal mirror with gold detailing and floral accents, displayed outdoors among other antique items.
Black and white portrait of an elderly woman with white hair and a serious expression, wearing earrings, with a small frog sitting on her head and over her hair. Bright green overlay text discusses aunties and shared traits.

editioned works and Tezos release

Accompanying the installation, aunties' black-and-white portraits were exhibited as limited-edition prints — presented in a 'family wall' format recalling the artist's mother's studio portraits from the 1970s: small, pocket-sized photographs once exchanged as mementoes and only taken in youth.

In the Auntieverse, these portraits are reclaimed. Aunties appear proudly with their spirit animals, full of vitality, expression, and wrinkles — together evoking a collective, living family wall.

Thirteen animated portraits were also released as 1/1 video artworks on the Tezos blockchain, marking niceaunties' first mint on Tezos.


collect niceaunties art
  • An ornate gold-framed mirror on a white wall reflecting a black and white portrait of an older woman with short hair. To the right, various framed photographs in different styles and sizes are displayed on the wall.
  • Two women with light-colored hair standing together, looking at a digital screen displaying a smiling woman with a bird on her head, in a room with framed photos on a shelf above.
  • An art exhibition featuring a large mirror with a cat's face and hair, surrounded by ornate gold framing, hanging on a wall decorated with numerous black-and-white framed photographs of people.
  • An art exhibition inside a shopping mall with multiple white gallery walls displaying various artworks, including photographs and digital art. Visitors are walking around and viewing the exhibits. There is a small seating area with a table and chairs in the center of the scene.
  • A group of people gathered in an art gallery listening to a guide, with framed photographs and mirrors on the white wall, and ornate architectural elements like green metal columns and arches in the background.
  • Person holding a framed black-and-white photograph of a woman with long dark hair covering part of her face.
  • A decorated mirror features a large black-and-white photo of an elderly woman with a wide smile, a paper wig resembling a giant hairdo, and text in multiple languages praising someone's attractiveness.
  • A group of people gathered around an art display or auction at a museum or gallery, with some taking photos or looking at their phones.
  • Two young children, a boy and a girl, standing in front of a wall with various framed photographs and a large ornate mirror in an art gallery or museum.
  • An ornate, vintage mirror with a gold frame leaning against a wall outside an antique shop. The mirror reflects a person wearing a light shirt and dark pants, with their hands in pockets. Nearby, there are other antique items such as beds, chairs, and mirrors.
  • Close-up of a decorative gold-colored ornament with a small white carved figure of a person with a cat face, being held between the fingers.
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