Digitally constructed pieces shown in PS122 Gallery 4.22.23-5.3.23
A seductress lying in a back alley, a longing for abandoned refuse, the thrill of filth, a desire for what is tossed aside and abandoned. These works question the unruly charm of the ruined self, and how identity and solitude takes shape in relation to the space in which it develops. Focused on the poetics of industrial structure, this work reclaims the right to comment on the wreckage, debris, and aesthetic of ruin that shape not only urban space, but also those of us who occupy it. Study the relationship of the body and in-progress identity against the background it exists within in a raw and literal manner while leaving space for what can be imagined.
SELF Against Concrete
Inspiration connecting the idea of festishizing decay and ruin, finding the aesthetic within the structure covered in grime that we exist within. How do we present against the boundaries playing as our background? Photographing the ruin paired with the ruined identity existing within it. This process of photography creates the object being photographed as abandoned, discarded, lost. Rather than seek to change the space, one finds how best to compliment it. Rather than coming into a space as an aggressor or an academic, entering the space as a malleable body lending itself to being captured.
Here enters the idea of ‘Ruin Porn’, (Aura of Decay: Fetishizing ruins with Benjamin and Lacan) “Even though ruin porn is supposed to show us all the grimy and intricate details of ruination, it remains blind to the actual reality behind the fetish object.”, what I am attempting to demonstrate in my work is a translation from fetish towards romance. Not negating the appearance of fetish or its nature towards display, but also leaving room for the introduction of romance with the city, with the industrial structure, with the dirt and grime.
With the physical body comes the conceptual experience of the mind. Understanding the influence of a hard, often bitter environment on an identity and the body that holds it. An additional lens to lay upon this trio is that of mental health. Does the city have a significant stake in my well-being? How would my existence differ if it were to continue off a backroad in southern Georgia. The backdrop of a city allows for the experience of emotion with a nuanced freedom and anonymity that is impossible elsewhere. You are free to crawl and scream and lay in the streets in a puddle of your own despair, unbothered.
A romance with the discarded and ruined because you yourself feel akin, You feel complimented and reassured by the deliriously filthy concrete you pull yourself across everyday. The mysterious silence you can carry with you for 72 blocks, the crumpled cigarettes, the overwhelming grey, everything is familiar and loves you back in the same way you show it. Unbothered. Blasé. I love you too. Gazing into dirt stains and deciding you need to capture this moment forever so you pull out your camera to seize the filth and hang the photo above your bed.