The Duchess

“The Duchess” is a fictional Youtube vlog series consisting of seven 3-5 minute episodes released on Youtube over a period of 6 months. Portia Deveraux, Duchess of Phillipstown, comes alive in the storage room of the art thief who has stolen her portrait from the Old Phillipstown Gallery in the present day. As she discovers and adjusts to the vlog medium, fragments of the real Lady’s dark past resurface, revealing cracks in the immortal beauty of her painted counterpart. Contemplating Robert Browning’s 1842 poem in relation to how ‘immaterial intimacy’ can be fostered between a modern online content creator and their viewers, the project sees a fictional Georgian Lady turning a fantastical situation to her advantage, using technology to come back to life. But while the pretty picture wants only to continue living out a quaint and feminine routine, the forgotten historical figure must make known the dark fate that befell her at the hands of three male figures. The mixed-media project features original music and was edited in Vegas Pro at the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford.