Sydni Garcia

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By: Sydni Garcia 

Communication

 

"In this series, I was inspired to do something with how weird life has been since March. As someone who really thrives and needs real life interaction with all sorts of people to be fully themselves, being completely isolated has been really tough on me. During lockdown, I found myself falling into my technology as support to help me feel a part of something, and to not feel so alone. I also started to stare at myself in the mirror and was not able to distinguish who I was anymore, and I wasn’t sure why the girl I was seeing in the mirror wasn’t myself. I found myself slipping away from reality, feeling like I was sucked into the digital realm, being defined on how well my Animal Crossing village compared to my peers, or how many Tik Toks I could watch before my eyes would bleed from the glowing light that haunted my dreams. The lack of being to interact with others in person and the fear of being around others in general really impacted my mental health and the way I was able to view myself. When school started, the constant stimulation of the glowing screen lights made me feel confused, flustered, and angry. My brain has been a hazy mess. So for my project I wanted to take an ironic approach, and use the one thing that has been making me feel isolated and confused and make it the media I use to create the series. I decided to digitally draw each piece. To really capture the essence of the emotions that I was feeling throughout this pandemic, I decided to animate the drawings to help the viewer feel the same way I was feeling. I chose to create pieces that were normal yet chaotic, just like how my fuzzy and worn out brain was feeling. The series of drawings each represent myself and the progression of both my mental stability and the lack of self identity that I have developed from being completely online, and not being able to interact with people the way that I use to pre-COVID.

   2021 Showcase Selection