"STATIC!"

When humans intake far too much media, the programs they watch begin to program the person watching. My current body of work is focused on my experiences navigating an overly media-saturated world and observing the effects it has on my personal identity, as well as those around me. I believe the root of the media's motivation is money, and control. 

The exhibition presents feelings of distrust and distaste for the media and what it promotes.

 Through the use of large-scale prints, text-based banners, and sculptures, the exhibition opens a discussion of how overconsumption of media skews our perception of reality. 

The media tries very hard to propagate highly emotionally charged beliefs that create negative niche thought vortexes of people who aim their outrage at the opposing group. The groups become so locked in on their beliefs that they have no room for growth, change, or a new perspective. Aspects of this work question what we believe and think of as truth. We live in a society that trains us to think on a linear pathway and the media perpetuates this idea. We are conditioned to color inside the lines and obey orders from a very young age. People who step out of the normalities of society are often ridiculed or thought of as lesser, when in actuality, often these are the people who innovate the most. 

We are constantly under surveillance whether we know it or not. The technology we use has the power to use us if it goes unchecked. Surveillance Capitalism is the monetization of data captured through monitoring people’s movements and behaviors online and in the physical world. This practice is utilized by all major media companies today. In addition to that, we are constantly bombarded with thousands of opposing viewpoints which creates many disorienting feelings and we never quite know what to believe. 

“STATIC!” speaks to the noise, confusion, and blurring of truth that happens in the media. 

In a society captivated by content, I believe it is necessary to understand how these sources can affect us, and deliberately choose to take a break and disconnect. If people took a brief pause from their devices and dove deep with themselves, I believe we could become a healthier and happier society that writes our own narrative rather than having one injected into our consciousness for us.