synthesis

My body of work has acted as self-reflection on internal and external factors that have influenced who I am today. As I’ve grown up, I’ve felt that there has been an emerging emphasis on the importance of self-care.

Throughout my creative process, I wanted to explore a personal struggle with self-acceptance due to social expectations and the generally high standards I set for myself.

This inspired my use of sculptural and digital mediums that seemed either minimal or industrial. I felt it was important to experiment with new techniques such as VR, and vector design as these more technical processes are analogous to my portrayal of development. I emphasized the importance of mediums by reducing my overall colour palette to tones of grey, attempting to create objective representations of emotional issues.

I converted the space into a white cube gallery, eliminating distractions to encourage contemplation of the works. Not only is this stylistically continuous with my pieces, but also the expansive nature of the room allows viewers to see larger pieces at a distance. Since doubt and failure are inherently universal experiences, the public nature of the gallery acts encourages reflection about one’s development. When considering arrangement, I often put works in close proximity to each other to pair representations of an issue and their effect on me. For instance, I made two sculptural works to tangibly present the process and failure in rationalizing emotional adversity. I created these works to be more vulnerable as I often find myself trying to maintain a professional and strong image. By representing failure and development as a multifaceted idea, I hope that walking through the gallery allows each idea to build on each other for a more engaged reflection.

NATHAN LEW

the gallerY

GEORGIA’S WONDERFUL WORLD OF ART

My exhibition explores issues that we have all acknowledged but never addressed, and the shields that have been created to obscure the relative truth. What I mean by this is: there are problems in our society that we know about but do nothing to prevent or solve. Instead, we are dismissive towards them.

This idea is examined through several different issues and lenses.

Some pieces touch on the idea of human interaction, while others explore the impact of technology or pollution. With Natural Environment, I display the impact of pollution on our world and how garbage has integrated itself into our surroundings through the use of plastic, metal, and wood to create a natural setting.

Conversely, in my piece Mirror Image, my artistic intention is to convey the effect work has on individuals as we get older; how we disconnect from the moment and instead treat it as an inconvenience. This is shown by not only the silhouettes on the floor, but the characters in the movie they are watching. This idea is accentuated by the attitude of both the children in the piece contrasting that of the adults. In partial contrast to this, where we see the mother disconnecting from her present experience. My wood piece Desensitized covers disconnect from our past. This piece portrays the topic of technology, and how we have made weapons into objects of admiration despite their destructive purpose: through video games, wall decorations, and even camp activities.

Each of these pieces along with all the others connect to a consistent leitmotif; that some messages are hidden or veiled. The way we represent ourselves or our world is not always entirely true or honest.

GEORGIA TURNER