The works of Chinese illustrator and animator Yukai Du, currently based in London, are a reflection of today’s addiction to digital and especially mobile technology, highlighting its consequences on human relationships and behavior. The virtual world gradually absorbs the physical reality, as devices take full control over the life of every user. Freedom is only an illusion fed by smartphones and gadgets, while intimacy, friendship, empathy or privacy have ceased to exist as they once were, in what feels like a continuous downgrade of social values, with a direct impact on education, culture and all levels of communication.

What people do not realize, in their rush for money to buy objects, satisfy endless desires and manufactured needs, is the nature of their connection with the other and the environment, which becomes more and more fragile as we blindly advance in a digital era, with new rules to follow and new ideals that may at the end cost us more than we can offer after possibly loosing things of greater importance. However, we have immersed ourselves so deep into this mindset that we can hardly raise our eyes and see beyond the small screens.