The Time Traveler

2018 – Photography

The Time Traveler is a digitally composite self-portrait, spatially compressed into a two-dimensional plane.

The work explores self-reflection as a condition in which consciousness is no longer constrained by linear time or physical boundaries. The sense of self deconstructs and reconstructs itself anew as it moves through fluid mental fields, existing as a continuous process rather than a stable identity.

The piece also explores the idea of our identities in the digital era. In an increasingly hyperconnected world, ourselves are more fractured than ever; formed by algorithms, by images, through surveillance, and through the crafted images of our bodies that we showcase on social media. The Time Traveler visualizes this digital notion of who and what we are as a flexible digital entity that can be duplicated, warped, and reassembled. The portrait both represents the human as well as the technological, implying the ways digital innovations undermine many of our conceptions of what constitutes true photo, permanence, and continuity of self.

On a sociopolitical standpoint, the artwork highlights the psychological effects of our hyperconnected life and of technology. The mashup of disparate viewpoints into an obese visual jungle mirrors the machinations of the modern world; residing in the highspeed information systems where your personal boundaries are simultaneously deconstructed and reconstructed by the external network of people observing and pulling together your information infrastructure.