California-based company Sinthetics exemplifies how the sex industry is undergoing rapid transformation in response to increasingly individualised desires. Their production of hyper-realistic sex dolls seeks not only to satisfy sexual pleasure but also to simulate intimacy, offering the presence of a full body. As co-owner Bronwyn Keller explains, the naming of one such figure reflects this ambition: “Gabriel is the… angel. And that’s why we selected that name. He’s the one that’s going to liberate us into whatever (sexual) future we have.” (Camilla Theakstone, The Future of Sextech Is More Than What Meets the Eye, 2020).
Yet this field remains deeply conflictive and controversial, provoking debates that span ethics, gender politics, emotional authenticity, and the commodification of intimacy. Advocates point to the potential of such technologies to meet affective and accessibility needs, while critics question whether they reinforce alienation, objectification, or the displacement of human-to-human relations. This ambivalence underscores the cultural anxiety surrounding synthetic intimacy: it is both promise and provocation, liberation and destabilisation.
The series Synthetic Love presents painted portraits of silicone dolls, styled with the visual codes of fashion media. By foregrounding the names assigned to them by their manufacturers, the work reflects on the ways in which personhood and identity are projected onto nonhuman forms. Historically, dolls have served as tools of comfort, imaginative play, and rehearsals of adult roles. Here, that lineage is extended into a contemporary context: the dolls become mediators of affective relations, companions that blur the boundaries between object and subject.
In elevating these figures beyond their association with sexuality alone, the series positions them as sites of solace, companionship, and alternative intimacy. At the same time, it addresses broader cultural prejudices surrounding technologies of care and desire — including artificial intelligence — and confronts the polarised debates that mark this domain. Ultimately, the work invites viewers to consider how such objects complicate existing narratives of intimacy, while exposing the tensions between technological innovation, affective fulfilment, and the societal discomfort that accompanies their rise.