In the not too distant past, an internal struggle for a lot of us ( the youth, young adults, and old) was in some sort or fashion, a lack of identity. Not just in terms of “who am I” as a person but also, how to “be seen”, heard, or recognized. We have all struggled to find ways of “mattering” or “ being relevant”, we have wanted to prove that we at least exist.
We have wanted to believe that we were good enough for whatever was in front of us, and maybe even ourselves, if we are good. For some of us, this created a driving force to create a unique identity and opportunities grew from these alternate identities. As a result, we ushered in the new era of building a brand or being social influencer.
Fast forward to today and all generations seemed to be forced on the stage to be seen via social media. Babies have an IG profile as soon as they can smile for an ultrasound. Grandma has joined FB for her pokeno club but keeps being put in FB Jail cause she hates republicans. Your dad is on Tik Tok doing God knows what, but HE thinks he is learning and showing off the latest dances. My point is, that in this day and time, we are always “on display”.
At any given moment we feel pressured, or for some even forced to be seen via social media. This has hyper sensationalized many aspects of life that can not provide us with inner purpose or peace. Our purpose has become to create moments to be seen versus creating moments to feed our souls. We live to feed the visions of others at the detriments of living into our individual purposes. What are we denying the world?
Can't U See Me is a mixed media collection that examines materialism, sensationalism and the obsessive need for attachments and status statements all while hiding, ignoring and/or poorly defining ourselves as individuals and being secure in our own individuality. It begs us to look at ourselves and ask
what am I attached to and what/who am I living for?