Technically Intimate

With new technologies come new ways of thinking, acting, and reacting. Our ability to connect with one another instantly using our now-ubiquitous cellular phones––and the privacy that comes with that use––has lulled us into a sense of security. The thought that what we send to each other will stay just between us. This new connection and the sense of security it provides, for the digital native generation, has brought with it a new definition of intimacy. We no longer believe we require the physical touch of generations past. Instead, we demand that images and videos be transmitted from one private space to another. To be enjoyed now, and forever to come.

But that sense of privacy is merely an illusion. For while it is easy to create these images and videos, it is even easier to transmit them to someone else. Images can be forwarded, forwarded again, posted, and reposted. As long as there is someone willing to press ‘send’, there is someone willing to look.

Each image in Technically Intimate has its origination in the real world. I find an image Online that has been posted, most likely without the creator’s knowledge. Then, using social media and classifieds sites like Craigslist, I find people willing to work with me to recreate the found images. My images are not a duplication, but rather, a reinterpretation of the moment of the found image’s creation.

The images in Technically Intimate underscore the inherent lack of privacy that our newfound technology is imbued with. The poses in my images emphasize the repetitiveness of the sexual images that pervade our society while the rooms that the scenes are staged in and the ages of the room’s occupant clash with those highly sexualized poses, causing an unease in the viewing of those pictured and reminding the viewer that with every leap we take in technology and convenience there is an equally deep crevasse into which we can fall.