Monster Pyramids are a series of collages conceived as a way for me to visualize hierarchies of power. Monsters are creatures that hold an enormous amount of power that they use and abuse to maintain their power and control.
Among Us, cut paper stop motion animation, 8:01, 2023.
Like monsters throughout human cultures, Monsters embody my fear and anxiety around the ever-present abuse and horror in the concurrent political, environmental, and social unraveling that we are bearing witness to. Like the real-world monsters who perpetrate horror and destruction my monsters are not frightening to look at, it is their actions that make them monstrous. Intermingling parts of insects that use automimicry to disguise themselves to hide in plain sight, the seductiveness of my monsters renders their monstrosity invisible. 2023
Monsters Viral Dances, 2022-2023, cut paper stop motion animation
In our Social media, chatroom and internet mediated world, information spreads quickly and indiscriminately.
I made the “Monsters Viral Dances” animations in reaction to and a way to participate in the spread of information on social media. During Covid lockdown, people developed dance moves to songs that would go viral, would film themselves doing the dances and share the videos on social media platforms (especially TikTok). As these dances spread through my social media feeds, so did misinformation and conspiracy theories about Covid.
My Monsters began to dance as a way to participate in the spread of information, that has become its own type of monster whose power and danger lies in the participation of people consuming and sharing it.
Among Us, curated by Valerie Doran, installation panorama at Hera Gallery, Wakefield, RI, June 2023
Video Walk through of “Among Us” at Hera Gallery, Wakefield, RI, June 2023
Monsters are Powerful, pen and ink, 8x12", 2020
Monsters Stand Behind Podiums, pen and ink, 8"x12", 2020
Monsters Play Games, pen and ink, 8"x12", 2020
Monsters Hide Behind Facades, pen and ink, 12"x8", 2020
Monsters Recruit You, pen and ink, 12"x8", 2020
Sometimes, pen and ink, 8"x12", 2020
Among Us began as a series of drawings made during the covid lockdown in 2020 of insects that use automimicry to hide from predators in plain sight. The drawings quickly transformed into insect-human hybrids, and became the monsters of the body of work, Among Us.