American Medicine: The First In-Home Sedative Device, acrylic on canvas
Artist Statement
Growing up in the twenty-first century, my worldview has been sculpted by television, magazines, Hollywood movies, advertisements, and social media. As an undergraduate student I have had the opportunity to explore how my experience with the reality has been shaped by messages of who I am, who I ought to be, and who other people are. These ideas are typically based on strict notions of normalcy, identity, and behavior. My focus as an artist and as an individual has since shifted towards understanding and dismantling the illogical aspects of my identity and the presumed identities of others that I have been taught growing up in this media saturated society.
Social Construction is a sociological theory that has been the driving force behind these works. Social Constructionism argues that all aspects of our reality - no matter how unchanging or natural they seem to be - are created, maintained, and altered through a variety of social processes. In these paintings I am mimicking and satirizing how individual and group identities are influenced by American mass media and social institutions. Using painting and collage in a way that draws on the absurdities of various social ideas, I am exploring how an individual’s perception of themselves and others can be manufactured and manipulated. It is my hope that through open and critical conversations about identity, representation, and perspective we can continue to dismantle negative identity constructs in American society.
