uncouple

title

Uncouple, digital prints, performance, video & audio, 2012

statement

What is the relationship between portable stereo devices and consciousness? An individual’s mind is highly susceptible to environmental input. External stimuli affect the senses and provoke the mind to adapt to specific situations. With the introduction of portable stereo devices like iPods, which can separate us from our real world senses, new questions must be raised about the benefits and drawbacks of such devices. The escapism one can achieve via portable stereo devices can be beneficial in some ways, but it deadens our senses to our immediate surroundings.

My photographic installation references Victorian Spirit and Death Photography of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I use my own image and iPod as subject matter in an attempt to capture possible mind states induced by portable stereo devices. While my pose and facial expressions at first seem to be that of a lifeless body, the ghostlike quality of these images attempts to conjure the mental escape, the metaphoric “out of body” experience, that is being induced. I realize this relationship is massively complex and has varied outcomes depending on multiple conditions. As I created these images, they began to take on a life of their own, raising even more questions about the nature of consciousness in relation to portable stereo devices.