My work questions people’s perception of culturally valuable objects by creating a new ‘virtual reality’, through the use of inter-changing materials, I juxtapose the concept of material value versus monetary value versus cultural value in order to encourage people to think more laterally about their perception of value. I am interested questioning the power of ideologies associated with objects and weather the excessive value placed on such items has distorted traditional value systems.
Digital imaging allows me to re-construct an object and present it as a virtual reality. This visual paradox, achieved by juxtaposing concepts of original ideologies of photography as an ‘actual’ reality and new ideologies using digital photography as a ‘constructed’ reality, encourages the viewer to see ideas from a new perspective. In my series Mass Authenticity I re-produced a series of designer handbags from photographs of leaves, which have been digitally reconstructed into a replicas of these bags. In this series, materiality based on the use of natural materials is a central component of the work, where the juxtaposition of ambiguous materials (man-made vs natural) and (scarce vs common) creates a visual paradox. In my past series Origami Amalgamation I explored the hat as a symbol of power and Western imperialism, my current series explores these concepts from a contemporary perspective in relation to globalization and corporate imperialism.
