BFA, Studio Art – Single Discipline Focus (Photography & Imaging)
Artist Statement
Through Their Vices
In a world where the people have no real authority other than a single vote over those who govern them, artists must take up arms and revert to their practice to critique the elite. Through Their Vices turns a critical lens onto five elected people into arguably one of the most powerful positions in the world, focusing on their most significant flaws.
Richard Nixon was a drunk who often tried to nuke countries due to intoxication from his drinking and drug (Dilantin) habit. John F. Kennedy was a womanizer who may have slept with an East German Communist spy while being a sitting president, George W. Bush claimed that God told him to invade Iraq, Donald Trump is a proud nationalist and Bill Clinton tricked America into thinking he was a hip democrat while he exponentially expanded the school-to-prison pipeline. The people we elect are as flawed as the rest of us, yet for some reason we put them on a pedestal.
Through Their Vices brings these often-hidden details into the spotlight as a personal line of defense from the muck of our current political system. The salon style of installation along with the crimson wall mimics the installation and framing often seen within the halls of the White House, also as an homage to museum installation techniques, displaying satiric prints within battered frames, touched up with gold sharpie, further push a sense of irony. By composing photographic political cartoons, I am reclaiming my voice as an artist and starting a conversation about the people we elect into this position of authority. This work draws attention to the often-detached humility of each sitting President, through expressing their vices and flaws. In doing so, I remove them from their pedestal and “through their vices” see the imperfect person.
