The Data Cemetery - Illustration Open Challenge
- Ayu Whitmore
- Nov 17, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: Dec 9, 2025
The prompts for the first Illustration Open Challenge are as followed:
Where lost thoughts go
Before it disappeared
Something that remembers you
THE DATA CEMETERY
A popular theory that has circulated online since around 2019 on fringe discussion boards before getting mainstream attention states the internet has "died" as a result of the domination of AI-generated content and automated bots. There is an endless churn of "engagement bait"-- posts engineered purely to farm likes and reposts. Rehashed internet-exclusive jargon, Midjourney memes, copypastas; they cycle through feeds until they become a kind of cultural exhaust. Amusing at first, but quickly devolving into "brainrot": the hollow type of post encountered dozens of times in a single session of doomscrolling.
Older forms of online expression such as blogging, traditional web forums, and online chat rooms have largely fallen out of fashion, supplanted by modern social media platforms and instant messaging services, many boards for niche and general communities now defunct. What remains is a narrowing tunnel constantly absorbing meaningless data, posts swallowed by the information highway, with only the most infamous or crude artifacts staying afloat.
The theme aligns with my Amplify project exploring online extremism. Entering this competition offered an opportunity to advance both efforts at once— navigating my organisation of an additional project alongisde others while responding innovatively to the vague prompts while continuing my ongoing research into the mechanisms that shape the internet.
Informed by the research I had done previously of David Dees' work, I depicted several of the more absurd trending topics currently cycling through Twitter, focusing primarily on the American sphere (which always seems to outdo itself).
Sydney Sweeney assumes the role of Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato's depiction of the Virgin Mary, cradling Pepe the Frog as infant Jesus-- a commentary inspired by white-nationalist 'groypers' rallying behind her blasé response to allegations of white-supremacist-sympathising, enshrining her as a Republican icon.
Weirdly enough, a couple people somehow mistook Sweeney for me; perhaps there is some truth to the phenomenon of automimesis, the so-called "involuntary self-portrait". Or, more likely, we just share similar noses.
Donald Trump and Bill Clinton share a kiss, a visual riff on the outlandish speculation by shitposters following the resurfacing of an incriminating email in the aftermath of the Epstein files. It’s an insight into how online gossip culture distorts reality and turns politics into memeable theatre.
Benjamin Netanyahu stands as an indecent Statue of Liberty, a nod to a phrase I frequently encounter online: "The United States of Israel", used both to criticise U.S.-Israel relations and, at times, to invoke long-standing antisemitic conspiracies, and the so-called "JQ", an abbreviation of "the Jewish Question" (a term adopted by antisemites inspired by the Nazi regime's use of the term "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" in reference to the Holocaust).
I also reinterpreted Dalí's Christ of Saint John of the Cross, attaching wires to his body, cascading down the cross; a visual metaphor for how the internet fulfills roles once occupied by religion.
The Outcome
I didn't have as much time as I would have liked, the week of 17th November was a whirlwind—peer review on Monday, an oral formative for ILLU20001: Contemporary Issues on Tuesday, and another oral for my optional module on Wednesday. Due to all the preparation I was doing prior, I only had three days spare during the week to finalise a submission for the 11:59 pm deadline on the 21st.
I'm quite pleased with the final composition. Working with the perspective tool to warp edited, painted-over, and posterized images made the tunnel motif come through clearly. The descending text definitely aids in readability, guiding the viewer into the darkness beneath. Each word or phrase carriess its own relevance: "@grok is this true" being a common post I see on X (formerly Twitter), where people outsource basic fact-checking to AI rather than searching themselves (and subsequently getting blasted by AI Luddites), while "vaxxed?" references the ironic catchphrase inspired by conspiracy theorists questioning someone’s vaccination status whenever news of an unrelated illness or death emerges.
The void I interpreted as a simple black square-- an empty space where issues of real significance are pulled down and forgotten, archived beneath waves of triviality. In contrast, Dalí's Christ of Saint John of the Cross stands as the focal point, rendered in bright white and seemingly suspended within the chamber, resisting the pull of the surrounding chaos.
The piece doesn't have the same incoherence of Dees' political collages, but I feel I utilised blending modes to evoke a distinctly digital feel. Even the moiré pattern I sourced from texturelabs.org, set on exclusion mode, contributed to the overall aesthetic in a way that felt thematically fitting.
One thing I do regret not doing is creating a dithering effect around the voided space. Following the perspective of the tunnel, it could enhance that void affect eating away at data that I intended to convey.
Despite the time contraints, this project was a lot of fun. Experimenting with the integration of digital and analog techniques through processing scans imparted some of the sketches with a crisp, pixelated texture that harmonised well with the digital theme, a happy accident I intend to replicate for other work in my Amplify project. The time crunch made the process intense, and I challenged myself in pushing away my perfectionism; in a way, the intensity fueled creativity and compromise in ways a relaxed schedule never could.
The Results
Two winners were selected from third year, two from second year, and one from first year. I was fortunate to be among them, winning the “Best Concept” category, apparently by a clear margin. The recognition came as a pleasant surprise, there were so many inventive submissions that I hadn’t anticipated a win. The experience has taught me to trust my instincts and have more confidence, while the work of others has encouraged me to push for more imaginative and unconventional approaches in future projects.
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