The Above piece is titled Mauna Kea, after the sacred Volcano on “Big Island” Hawaii. The Artwork was based on the relationship between science, technology and authoritarianism. The piece was inspired by the resistance of Native Hawaiians to the continual erection of telescopes on the sacred site. After having previously completed a piece concerning the perpetually exploitative power dynamic that has constantly existed between Global North nations and The Democratic Republic of Congo. Hawaii appeared to me to reveal the same capitalist contradiction, whereby there can be no advancement by civilisation through science. While the development of scientific theories or technologies come at the expense of disadvantaged communities and the destruction of their unique ways of knowing.
I used a number of references to convey this concept, the most powerful being the black cross behind the central figure on horseback. The cross signifies the way Christianity was forced onto subject people during colonialism. While the decision to have the centre of the cross dissolve into a vision of the passage of Venus, was a reference to the events surrounding the “discovery” of Hawaii by Captain Cook. His public mission, (while actually attempting to discover Australia), was to study the passage of Venus. The inclusion of this piece of history within this Artwork therefore, highlights the continuation of the hierarchy of western forms of knowledge at the expense of the culture and traditions of native Hawaiians to the present day. The way in which the hierarchy of western culture is protected is meanwhile conveyed through use of the Mushroom cloud and in the figure of the policeman on horseback. These two distinct symbols a marriage of scientific superiority as well as domination. On the Right of the cross the figure of Hawaiian resistance, countering the popular image of the "hula girl" Huanani Kay-Trask, gives her famous "We are not Americans" speech. The text around the piece is another message of resistance and an attempt at conveyed hope. The word "Aloha" not only means both hello and goodbye, but signifies the circular nature of life in the Hawaiian and many indigenous cultures. Here it also signifies how though the native people of Hawaii first welcomed travellers they may yet still be able to bid them farewell from their nation.
The piece, A Brave New World. Uses the theme of memetics, as a way of talking about the concept of Hauntology in the era of Artificial Intelligence and Space Travel. The Jacques Derrida’s concept of Hauntology, where cultural or social elements of the past can ontologically exist in the present, is persistent theme within this project. Here I express it through the form of the meme. I find memes to be an interesting modern artefact, they are carriers of cultural memory. Reference humour, they are by their very nature unoriginal, yet through their application gain constant relevance. Only literate to the concerned group they’re designed for, they also become carriers for ideas based on the conventions of the society they are from. They are meaningless to the audience if they refuse to accept the relational dynamics of the subjects or objects within the context of the society in which the meme has originated. My Choice of this meme was due to what it says about the cultural acceptance of our notion of the adventurer. In the original meme the subjects are reversed, my choice to change the characters relationship was as a way of depicting the hauntological concept of the frontiersman. The piece in general is about the way in which cultural concepts inform our actions and the importance of addressing our ideas of social relations and power dynamics, particularly as we are at the advent of Ai production. If Artificial intelligence can reproduce constantly, what are the social relationships it will reproduce.