Photo documentation by Nabiha Khan
As part of a solo exhibition at the Washington Park Arts Incubator titled "exceptional/respectable", I created a body of work that explored the barrage of the 24 hour news cycle, respectability politics, and the conflict between contemplation and action.
This particular piece was systematically created using three stipulations: the images must be commonly found on Google Images, they must be journalistic press images, and they must feature a "die-in protest" in the United States.
Using the captured images and a combination of Photoshop's "Content-Aware Fill" and a custom script, the program removed instances of the protestors in the imagery and replaced them with the surrounding imagery of the scene.
Full exhibition text:
The internet is the equalizer. Conversations by news sources conflict with bystanders on site with a camera. Online technologies are used to document and honor fallen members of communities.
A widely shared image becomes the memorial. Memories are off-loaded to digital devices. Honor is served with virtual acts of protest. Life is dedicated to pondering the actions and reactions of others. Minds are filled with input; the body desires an output.
In “exceptional/respectable”, conceptual artist James T. Green’s work becomes his visceral output towards the barrage of the 24 hour news cycle, respectability politics, and the conflict between contemplation and action.
This piece has been shown in:
• July 10 - Aug 23rd, 2015: Three the Hard Way, Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts
• April 3 - 24th, 2015: exceptional/respectable, Washington Park Arts Incubator, Chicago IL