Reel Portraits by Erika Iris Simmons

Erika Iris Simmons’s incredible portraits made from cassette tape and film reels were featured in Amusing Planet in the past. At that time the artist didn’t have a proper website and as such, I was unable to determine the identity of the artist behind the art pieces. Now that we have discovered her, here is a brief bio of the artist and her work entitled “The Ghost in the Machine” in Erika’s one words:

My name is Erika Iris Simmons and I like to take things- random things- like what you would find at a garage sale or in a thrift store- and make them into composite art. Most of my pieces become portraits of people associated with the item I’ve chosen. I don’t really add any paint or pigments… I usually just take things apart and re-arrange them in weird ways, cutting away pieces when necessary. A lot of my art is made with cassette tapes and old film reels in a series I call “Ghost in the Machine.”

“The Ghost in the Machine” series was inspired by some strange ideas. How at one level we are cellular beings and another we are a single “self.” The single cassette tape I thought of as representing the mind. The tape ribbon represents our thoughts, the data within. Taking that data – those bits of memory – and rearranging them to form what we see as a face is my way of finding a “ghost in the machine.” I also liked the fact that when you look at a portrait like Jimi Hendrix out of a cassette tape, you can almost hear the music in your head – so your own “data” is responding to what you see.

Do checkout her previous works.