Lynne Heller
The Adventures of Nar Duell in Second Life – Snow/Globes

LH

A comic book of adventures shared with my avatar, Nar Duell.

The translation of the virtual adventures into comix style documentation is a natural expression of the experience of spending time in ‘Second Life’. The superficial and arbitrary nature of virtual life is mirrored in the ‘pow, bam, zap’ aesthetic of the printed page. Nar Duell’s adventures are transmogrified into narrative. The graphic novel supports the illusive nature of the work with the concrete and historical reference to print – a travel guide, and captures the essence and detail of what has been deemed alien and exotic by the outside world, and makes intimate that which is generally seen as inaccessible.

Nar Duell is a name loaded with meaning. Nar denotes proximity, near and lose; and is comparative, an approximation. Duell encompasses the notion of doubling, a variation of the real.

The majority of ‘Second Lifers’ choose to self-represent as young, thin, idealized body types. These surrogate-selves are fondly referred to by the participants as “Barbie and Ken on steroids”. In contrast, Nar Duell is a neo-feminist prototype, who wears her superwoman cape and stilettos along with a hard hat (she builds things in ‘Second Life’ so is often on construction sites) both defines and defies the norms, undercutting her ‘sex appeal’ and objectification with pragmatism and function.

6.5×10.25”, full colour saddle-stitch, 12 pages
Edition of 100
$0.20 CAD

Available from Heller Comics

Lynne Heller is a Canadian artist who works in a variety of disciplines including fiber, sound, new media, websites, and immersive sculptural installations.

Heller’s work reflects an interest in exploring the gap between our desires / yearnings, and reality, which is filled with odd juxtapositions, quirky beauty, endearing ugliness, human day-to-day struggles as we live, work and play. Dreams and actuality bump up against each other and manifest in idiosyncratic coincidence, and engaging fumbles.

Rather than romantically reflecting on our human condition, Heller appropriates the abyss of technological change and attempts to find wonder and incongruent beauty. Fascinated by the material and the virtual, Heller constantly navigates  and bridges these divides — dreams/reality, visual/aural and high art /low art.

‘Second Life’ has become a vastly infinite site for Heller’s exploration of physical and psychological realms. It is a embarrassment of riches in which Heller draws on and augments. Heller marvels at how we have such a deep need to reflect on what we know, our history and current reality are essentially embedded in every aspect of ‘Second Life’.