2015 - present
giving myself a reason to scream but not cry is a body of work that examines the correlation between catharsis and protest. Part self-help exercise, part coping mechanism, part instruction set for the inept protestor, this video depicts how both protest and catharsis have the potential to be moot points. The work was born out of a deep distaste for the contemporary political state, as well as feeling stifled by my anger and the inability to feel as though I can enact positive influence beyond myself. The Governing body has an alienating hold that pushes its subjects toward a sentiment of hopelessness. As a result, our focus shifts away from changing the system or building a new one and more toward “something” being able to change what’s around us. Our culture’s obsession with notions of the apocalypse, collapse or disaster is the single tangible way we see the ability to witness dramatic change, so we fantasize about "acts of God" as the only possible way we will ever see any transformation. I am convinced that people don’t want to witness the apocalypse, but that they want to witness change on a scale Governments would never allow for. Our bureaucratic processes slow down and remove us from all direct elements of change and, as a result, a boiling over of frustration becomes the dominant ideology. This piece deals with the willingness to break and destroy as a vital part of implementing change while indulging in the catharsis of witnessing that action.