Consumption (2022)
In this 6 photo series, I'm exploring my relationship with different forms of coping. Addiction and substance abuse issues run in my genetics, and I lost my father to addiction at 11 years old. I've used some of these coping mechanisms since then, and others I've adapted as I've grown into adulthood. However, they share the insatiable hunger for endorphins and how I satisfy it by consuming what each photo represents.
Physically consuming fast food to satisfy quickly, consuming drugs as a form of self-medicating, consuming social media to dissociate, consuming material possessions for the adrenaline rush of spending money, consuming sex and relationships to feel wanted, and consuming myself through introspection and reflection.
This series intends to authentically portray my experience of coping with complicated grief and addiction. I wanted these scenes to replicate my coping mechanisms as I would use them naturally. In addition, the yellow hue of the series is meant to emulate the claustrophobic and frenzied daze I feel when consuming. Each image allows me to view what this consumption looks like from an outside perspective and understand myself more deeply by creating a physical manifestation of these coping mechanisms as a collective. By creating this series, I've allowed myself to validate my experiences with addiction which I often have tried to ignore or deny out of resentment toward my father. With this new perspective and resulting conversations surrounding this work, I've seen myself in a more forgiving light and brought attention to these issues that may resonate with others, which is one of my primary goals as an artist.
Physically consuming fast food to satisfy quickly, consuming drugs as a form of self-medicating, consuming social media to dissociate, consuming material possessions for the adrenaline rush of spending money, consuming sex and relationships to feel wanted, and consuming myself through introspection and reflection.
This series intends to authentically portray my experience of coping with complicated grief and addiction. I wanted these scenes to replicate my coping mechanisms as I would use them naturally. In addition, the yellow hue of the series is meant to emulate the claustrophobic and frenzied daze I feel when consuming. Each image allows me to view what this consumption looks like from an outside perspective and understand myself more deeply by creating a physical manifestation of these coping mechanisms as a collective. By creating this series, I've allowed myself to validate my experiences with addiction which I often have tried to ignore or deny out of resentment toward my father. With this new perspective and resulting conversations surrounding this work, I've seen myself in a more forgiving light and brought attention to these issues that may resonate with others, which is one of my primary goals as an artist.