Artist Statement
This body of work encapsulates the concept of shared community experiences of murals and public art while also focusing on the idea of appropriating individual experiences via social media.
Murals offer accessible art and artistic expression to communities to strengthen the sense of affinity in cities. Murals create an emotional response and a sense of care as well as beautification for the general public. They are meant to be a shared experience for communities. Black Cat Alley is one of the most visited destinations in Milwaukee. Created entirely with community partners and volunteers, Black Cat Alley’s murals are intended to be a gift to the city and a cultural space for locals.
I created this work by collecting images on Instagram of individuals using murals in Black Cat Alley for portrait backdrops. Once I assembled an archive of images, I organized them by the mural depicted and digitally merged the photographs into a fractured space. Each piece collapses a multitude of individual moments, creating a community from their shared connection to place.
These works of art also become an online community experience when social media comes into play. In this work I take these individual experiences from online and pull them together into one work of art becoming a shared experience once again.
