The everyday and a brief look at my past research
Today I wanted to bring to attention some research I did during my final year of art school from 2021. Aside from the unease and unfamiliar terrain that was learning what it meant for me to read, research and spend time in the studio, I gained some invaluable skills about what it means to have a research based art practice.
This is a presentation script from a research assignment I completed in my Art History and Theory class.
The reason I bring this topic of the everyday up is because I feel it relates to the general interconnectedness of our universe. It is a very broad way of saying that we live as a community, influenced by one another, our lived environments, our energies, the foods we ingest, the places that we go, the thoughts that we have and more. It is a reaffirmation of the very principle of Eastern philosophy: that we are not seperate from this world. To recognise that you are not seperate is to recognise you have a place here on this earth to execute deliberate, meaningful, exciting, fun and intentional change: in yourself and the world. It is a reaffirmation of your power. The reason this is something to reiterate repeatedly is because of the very backdrop in which we find ourselves; a constructed system of oppression and control, through an ongoing deprivation of knowledge, resources, empathy and kindness. To be told that we are not enough, is a mindset breaded, in order to manipulate ourselves to sell our bodies for labour, in order to pay for houses we don’t need, bills we can’t afford and consistently buy things to fill in the void we’ve been told to have.
I am not saying that we shouldn’t work. I see work as something humans crave. However, in thinking long term, I am interested in alternative modes of living, of making living easier, more accessible, and what actions we could take to execute that.
When I talk about these topics of financial independence, my distaste for consumer culture and our lack of ambition for self agency, what is truly sitting within my heart is family. Political movements are all birthed out of a personal place. Seeing my family suffer financially, watching them work so hard, and to not be able to speak to them about this, let alone who I am, is not ideal. I am not saying that I don’t think people should work hard. I know why they have to do this and I do not want to discount the years they have put in in order to support and look after their families. All I say is that I acknowledge the pain that has been felt, and that as of this moment and current period of life, I choose to do something different. I choose to alternate steps forward – for them and for the generations to come, because something I have learnt recently is that whenever we decide to do something necessary for ourselves, we are never simply doing it for ourselves. What we choose to do for ourselves benefits the world repeatedly.
Over the last 6 months I have been on a self-indulgent path of learning what it means to share, the importance of sharing and why we must do it. To share who we are is irrelevant to vanity. You are already alive!
Jazmine Deng, hiding my fries from you because I love you, McDonald’s food packaging, family photographs, hot chips, 2021, photo by James Field
