ARTISTS STATEMENT
PASSPORT aims to challange the ideals and impact of social and cultural labeling.
In a world where more and more of us are identifying as multi ethnic, affected by the ripples of diaspora and cultural integration and seperation, it is never more poignant to be discussing this subject.
Formed from cultural prejudices and with the constant reinforcement of media, these photos seek to provoke thought and emotional response from the viewer. Demanding recognition and reflection on the larger impact and division that these labels have.
Figures become representational of the deep weighted typography scrawled upon their surface. Using editorial compositions designed to stand as a direct confrontation to the imagery of journalistic publications, social media and advertising agencies.
They stand as a juxtaposition to the high gloss overly aestheticised or overtly dramatised imagery we are all casually fed in our every day lives. How then do these portraits of embedded values dictate self development?
Form is manipulated throughout the series, depicting the inner conflict people living with these xenophobias are faced with when establishing self identity. Feeling like monstrous immigrants, they become the fierce protectors of culture. The outsiders are called to become heralds for gods of old .
Searching to find the reconnection lost to them through their lineage and the social stigma that seperated them from parts of themselves.
COLLECTION
CONTEXTUALITY
Immigrant Doxa Doxa: ancient Greek "to appear", "to seem", "to think" and "to accept"[1] is a Greek word meaning common belief or popular opinion.
Much of the societal rederick we form around immigrants is formed from deeply rooted classical opinions that seem out dated. With humans continuation to not learn from past mistakes and more and more refugees seeking asylum, New Zealand's isolation from the rest of the world fills displaced eyes with hope. However, we fear we will loose our own culture and identity through the integration of these strangers to our lands. We spit hate and fear for them taking what we think rightfully our own. And yet we claim to be a nation of unstained hands. One that preaches love and acceptance. For the bewildered and scared souls seeking embrace, we meet with fierce warrior face and bang on about being better.... about being a nation of progressive change. Our foundations are built on wars that we haven't stopped fighting, instead of looking for love worth creating. We fail to see the opportunity for growth. To meet another human, in which we can find commonality and share in the beauty of each others uniqueness. Like the English meeting savages on the shores, we leap to vilify, instead of seeking to raise up, educate and welcome one another. Why is this? With all our advancements and evolution, why we are still waring with one another over such vapid sallowness?
White Girl
"In 1970, just one in a hundred babies born was multiracial; these days, the share has climbed to one in ten."
["How Are Black–White Biracial People Perceived in Terms of Race?" Dissertation by Arnold K. HoNour KteilyJ. M. Chen]
Growing up a bi-racial woman myself in the 1990s, I was confronted with labels like this one constantly. My generation seemed to be the beta test for racial inclusion. "Too white to be black, too black to be white" you never really fit in anywhere. You are forced to fight to prove your right to any part of culture. People on both sides view you as an outsider. It creates a sense of detachment from the land you are born into. When the world tells you that you don't belong anywhere, where do you turn? What do you become?
Idee Fixe
noun: idée fixe; plural noun: idées fixes
1. An idea or desire that dominates the mind; an obsession.
When we are fixed on a set of ideals, passed on perhaps through parentage or socially learnt behaviour, we become unable to see anything other than that one devotion of thought. Closing our minds to internal growth and exploration. This cementation of morality, opinion, feeling, leave the self edged upon hatred and distain, struggling to find breath and freedom from deeply gorged chasms through inner universe of self understanding.
Muted With this entanglement of culture, it seems impossible to wade through and decipher what spirituality is. We feel a yearning for it. Scientifically certain parts of our brain are only activated when we find understanding in higher purpose. Feeling this cerebral pull, we pick to find the truth of our existence. Some of us finding solace in a hodge podge of cheery picked ideals, the left over remnants of immigration, colonisation, commercialisation, a never ending tide of mirk strangling us. Our only hope to look inward. To find the beauty and truth within ourselves, to feel into the connection of old ways in a world of disconnection. Technology seems to offer us salvation and further evolution. We are aliens fossicking to understand our being and god by pawing through histories lost truths.
