FRIENDSHIPS BOTH REAL & IMAGINED (2022) Oil on Panel 6” x 8”

As an elder millennial, I grew up with the internet. I was present for each new social media platform and was an early adopter of MySpace & Instagram. I became comfortable with meeting strangers online and forging friendships with people I will never meet. This work examines these friendships both real and imagined. The image shows two wallet sized portrait photographs: on the left my real-life friend, 20 years before I met her and, on the right, an Instagram influencer I have followed from day one, almost ten years now, but have never had a conversation with. Both of these photos were posted around the same time during an Instagram trend. 

This work was made from screenshots of photos of these photographs. I am interested in the totems we create and keep as memories of the past and how those totems are shared and with whom as biography. The scale of this painting is miniature. It preserves the preciousness of the actual wallet photographs that were the subject of this painting. 

EXHIBITIONS:

2023 DUBUQUE MUSEUM OF ART BIENNIAL JURIED EXHIBITION, DUBUQUE MUSEUM OF ART, DUBUQUE, IA