Amanda Bennetts uses art to critique health data exploitation

Conceptual artist Amanda Bennetts has created ‘Axis Mundi’, a sculptural work featured in the New26 survey show at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. The piece serves as a response to the exploitation and monetization of personal health data by social media algorithms and artificial intelligence.

Bennetts developed the work after experiencing targeted advertisements on platforms like Instagram and SoundCloud following diagnoses of multiple sclerosis and dermatomyositis. She described receiving unsettling ads, including images of funeral services, which she felt intruded upon her most vulnerable moments and interfered with her ability to process her medical conditions privately.