jennifer hanley
artist's statement
The work was spawned by the idea of conflict of perception within a social sphere. By looking at the idea of perception of self and society’s conflicting perception of self, thus causing conflict within our self about our own identity. But it also looks at ideas of hidden identities: the masked face and the hollow shell of living up to expectations and stereotypical perceptions. Is our own perception of self reflective of who we are or the identity society places on us? Do we gain or lose part of our selves when we control the identity we want society to see? Or is this idea of control just a false idea we place on our self and others? Does the striving to achieve control leave nothing but an empty shell? Do we as a society force the compliance of identity on an individual? Does this destroy the inner perception of self? Or is this the natural structure of a society and do we as individuals place too much power on the importance of self over society? We could say that many of the social problems of today and through out history have been spawned or catalysed by the subject of identity. These are the theoretical concerns influencing the work.