A lot has happened over the past few minutes, months, and moons. The world has become increasingly violent (Mercury Retrograde), Facebook now allows us five different emotions instead of one, Obama dropped the mic, America dropped the ball, endangered munk seals are making a very cute comeback & I have 15 grey hairs on my 24-year-old head.
I trekked through a rainforest and ate a small pineapple inside of a lukewarm waterfall atop the boiling bedrock of a quaint place called the Valley of Desolation before I proceeded to hop on a plane to Boston to teach high schoolers how to get their voices heard via video, all the while wondering what I am doing to get my voice heard these days.
What is worth stating these days?
What is the worth of me stating anything?
To say something effectively you must capture it and present it and in doing so you freeze it and make it untouchable, un-editable, and true(?). It is this rigid and immutable form that has kept me in a creative cloud as of late. Floating on the back of one million thoughts that are begging to be grounded. I find it all to be exhaustingly embarrassing.
As if by putting something out there, especially something that is obvious, clear, and sincere, that I would be actively working against the assurance of my future self.
Facebook does a marvelous job at putting these thoughts into a digital and visual reality, as it presents you with notifications that remind you of what you were like in your previous forms. And are these moments not always embarrassing? Of course you can find sweet sentiments and nostalgia within the pixels, but beneath that warm blanket of recollection and delusion lies the dark truth– that you simply can’t go back. What is done is done.
Maybe it’s about control. I’m often able to curate the way I am perceived through the way I present myself. The problem is that the more information I put out, the less power I retain. So what are my options? To live a cooled life that breathes a mysterious allure fed by inaccessibility and darkness or create an honest persona shrouded in creation, vulnerability, and doubt.
I have chosen the latter, as is evident through the static writing that presently occupies your screen. It feels wrong and strange, but it is new. Join me on this mission towards mortification where we can empathize collectively online and privately in our less digitized spaces.
Here’s what I’ve been up to for the past 6 months:
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
ARTIST & LOCATION @ CICA MUSEUM / SOUTH KOREA
NOT FOR SALE @ ART SLOPE FESTIVAL [site no longer live] / BROOKLYN, NY
NO1 KNOWS UR A DOG @ THINK TANK GALLERY / LOS ANGELES, CA
FIRST KISS @ JUNIOR HIGH / LOS ANGELES, CA
PHANTOM HORIZONS @ KUNSTLERHAUS BETHANIAN [link no longer active] / BERLIN, GERMANY
DIGITAL GRAFFITI / ALYS BEACH, FL
BATHTUBE PREMIERE / CAMBRIDGE COMMUNITY TELEVISION / PUBLIC ACCESS TV
SCREENINGS
DETROIT RE-RUNS @ GIRL GIRL GIRL / DETROIT, MI
RAPID PULSE INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL / CHICAGO, IL
WRIT LARGE / SANTA CRUZ, CA
UPCOMING
COMMISSIONED DIGITAL GRAFFITI WORK FOR AN INTERNATIONAL GRAFFITI EXHIBITION AT THE INSTITUTE OF THE HUMANITIES @ THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
DETROIT GIRL ON GIRL CHAPTER
NEW WORKS BASED ON TEXT EVOLUTIONS
(TO BE DISCUSSED NEXT)
NEW WORKS BASED ON SAFETY IN PUBLIC SPACES
(TO BE ELABORATED ON NEXT)