Hillary Gattian

Experience of place is often mediated by the screen. Using humor and trompe l’oeil recreations I explore the consequences of this on in-person experiences.

In the body of work #instatravel, laborious drawings of social media posts facilitate self-reflection of social media practices and the effect of this on in-person interactions and the environment. Travel photography and bucket- lists journeys are a way of life. Sites become must-see places and the perfect backdrop for an influencer quality image. The series #superbloom, highlights the effects of a mass of Instagramers on the natural environment of the California poppy fields.

A lot of art being made today is experienced online. The buildup of small colored pencil marks appears to merely be a screenshot when being viewed through a screen. The process of hand-tracing each character and word goes unnoticed. Only select characters are fully realized, alluding to the scrolling mentality where most words are often left unread.