Introduction
Upon waking from cultural slumber, angry and frustration took hold as the world I saw was filled with what can only be described as 'Stepford' zombies walking around, with ideals controlled and engineered by marketing strategies, designed for large corporations and governments to get their own way.
The realisation that the human world is nothing more than fake created by capitalists and individuals consumed by greed, power, control, and money, felt unbearable. Unable to see beyond the scope of their nose, their actions result in community hardship, individual despair, addiction, selfishness, superficial morals, destruction of our natural world, climate change, animal suffering, to name but a few.
Demons Dance with the Fool is a visual of what I see; a person manipulated unable to see the truth behind their actions.
A limited edition print of Demons Dance with the Fool hangs above my desk to remind me that I have cut the strings and am now culturally free from manipulation.
The Mask of Zanni
The Italian peasant with an insatiable appetite that could never be satisfied. The mask represents greed, the wanting more upon more upon more. Too caught up in our own selfish desires to realise or care that although we do not see the consequence, someone else, the environment, or nature, is paying the price for the decisions we make.
Demon Butterfly
The marketers plays you like a fool. They sway your vote, change culture, play on our addictive nature to benefit no one but themselves, with no thought to the cost to us, communities, and nature.
The Full Skirt
A play on the Victorian ‘cage crinoline’. The cage crinoline was seen to represent excess, control, and the invasion of space outcasting others. Today, we squeeze wildlife into ever-decreasing spaces pushing every species to extinction, do everything in excess and destroy so much along the way, we try and control everything in our path which wrings the breath out of life. The cage crinoline also represented freedom for women, and so here the skirt also symbolises the need to break free from the strings of manipulation to restore much-needed balance in the world.
Me, Mine, More
How wrapped up are we in our obsession with material things, wealth, and ideals that don't really benefit anything or anyone. Marketers have trained us to believe that certain ideals, material things, and financial wealth are a sign of success in life. We pin so much weight on them that we let it control our whole identity, feeling worthless and poor, and looking down if certain goals aren't met.
The graffiti symbolises the number of voices fighting for our attention.
Heart of Strings
How you are not truly free even though you think you are. Your desires are not your own but controlled by others who use you for their own personal gain. The only way you can truly be free is to cut the ties and search for the true meaning of wealth and happiness which isn't found in material things, or selfish ideals.