Face Lift Off: Leaving My Facebook Mask(erade) Behind

Well oops - the researcher became the subject as it were! 

I woke up one day and realized that I start and end my days with Facebook.  That I carried it with me in my handbag (ie. my phone).  That I was never really OFF the damn thing!  

Well - actually a few things shook me awake - like some very real world experiences that proved my early observations that folks take Facebook WAY too seriously - assuming all representations of their lives there equate reality; that validity is gained there first.  Concurrent with this were a couple of rude awakenings of very aggressive behaviours and presumptuous expectations from  virtual strangers - 'virtual' being the operative word here. 

Facebook and the like (no pun) have never been more for me than sites to promote  professional efforts, to communicate with  supporters in a personable way, to have fun exchanging written banter on shared interests with friends and acquaintances, and to exchange links + fotos with my peeps/REAL members of my physical life.  (Ironically less exchanges actually happen with my physical-world friends on these platforms - perhaps because we have 'reality' - lol).  I guess in short, FB is like an interactive address book, bookmark keeper, and calendar that makes us all appear to have great memories when it comes to birthdays (come on - birthdays on Facebook rock! lol), or far more active lives by virtue of the 'LiKes' and links we share! 

But somewhere in between my sociological/artistic observation and research of this for my project BRANDED... and me being a participant, I engaged in some of the very same behaviours I was analyzing in others.  I remained fiercely private about matters that don't belong there, and never attacked anyone, but around mid Summer of last year I started spending an inordinate number of hours on that thing! I started needing that interaction for ego strokes, a good laugh at stupid jokes (fun times! sigh...), stimulating conversations/debates at a 'safe' distance, blah blah blah.  I also justified this in the name of promotional necessity for my work.   

The first important statistical fact that bubbled to the surface and smacked my face in was the fact that I wasn't really promoting that much - save for a show post here and there, or appeal to 'LiKe' my page...(eye roll).  Further, I felt I was running out of things to promote.  I spent hours here, thus reducing the amount of free time I had for the life I was investing in before, like writing on this blog for instance; creating more photograpahic or collaborative projects; teaching art with orgs I support; writing proposal submissions for my work; soliciting paying jobs...etc.  Though I have met or reunited with a number of great souls and characters there, the bottom line is that much time spent on FB has not resulted in any appreciable improvement to my physical work process as an artist, nor has it resulted in increased commissions and sales for my work.  Not the way all real life and blogger interractions do.  It's like high school where one will forego doing homework so you can play in the right circles for popularity points.  Who wants to miss the next viral post that proves you being current?!  The number one procrastination tool confessed to by millions is Facebook! Wow.  All I'm saying is like all things, there needs to be

...b a l a n c e.  Of course this is obvious  - as I've continually examined here on this journey blog.  But to wake up inside this particular belly as it were has been a bit stinky and I wear this stink with a bit of embarrassment too, hence my need write it all out here. I believe if we cover up, hide, or 'front' - the beast wins.  So...

...the most liberating thing was to decide to take a break from that amoebic blue world beast - at least for a little while - lol.

A friend of mine, Jimmy, who does this often always referred to Facebook as a country - "sometimes I fly in, visit loved ones - hang out in new spots, meet a couple folks, and then I return home".  

And so I've posted this on Facebook and flown home. I've set up my bathroom darkroom and spent hours doing pinhole photography. Sweet liberation to be shared in subsequent posts.

APRIL 27, 2012:

Not that this is MaJoR news yeah,  but I've been told that without prior warning of FB sabbaticals some folks might create the wrong ideas when they suddenly see a 'friend' disappear. 

So...I'm checking out temporarily from MAY 1st to JULY. 

I confess that I have fallen into the FB addiction trap - woke up one day a realized this place is getting more of my time than my actual work is.  I know - such an unusual observation right?!!!   Well I like being on top of  my creative work and blogging about that, and other such pass-times as old-fashioned emails, phone calls, yoga, chocolate, cheese shopping, etc.  I need to plug out of this and plug deep into feeding my soul. :)

I expect I'll see many of you in REAL life, and on other spots like ...twitter  (so far that'll stay up tho I still have NO idea how that thing really works...).  But yah - May 1st (that's Tuesday) FB gets the boot for bit... will play til then. :)

One Love Munchkins and Happy Weekend!

B

A fellow Facebooker who thought it a good idea to do the same - photographer Jim Northorp:
  Cyber-Celibacy Facebook No Mo?

RELATED POSTS:
-Some talk about a new project...'BRANDED' (Oct 2010)
-Awakening in the Illusion (Sept 2010)
-Apathy as Peace of Mind? (April 2010)

SeBiArt at Bookophilia

Hey guys - super quick post to let you know I have work up at this cool bookstore in Kingston, Bookophilia from now through June.

You know I'm into community/art/edu programs and so I've committed proceeds of all sales to go to two organisations I support in Jamaica.  

One you've heard about here before, Studio 174 is run by Rozi Chung (hey that rhymed!! haha).  It's located on Water Street, downtown Kingston, and the art and educational programs there are provided for free to inner city children in need.  Many of the art workshops are focused on community beautification mural projects that also serve to improve the face of downtown Kingston.  S174 is in partnership with INSCAPE Foundation - an organization providing free clinical psych and art therapies to inner city citizens in stress.  

Rozi Chung(left) with S174 students, and Dr. Tammy Haynes of INSCAPE (far right blue shirt)

S174 studio workshops and exhibition space

I was recently introduced to yet another really great organization on my recent trip to Jamaica.  Run by Roslyn Ellison, Trenchtown Reading Center is now nearly 20 years old.  It's located in the heart of Bob Marley's old home town and has on offer free classes, reading and music sessions, and the most AMAZING library for the children of Trenchtown to enjoy.  

 

TTRC kids

Roslyn Ellison with TTRC kids

Proceeds from sales of my pieces at Bookophilia will go to both Studio 174 and Trenchtown Reading Center.  Please drop by if you are on the island, or pass the word around.  Thanks so much.

RELATED JOURNEY POSTS:

Jamrock Talk, Jamrock Walk (Oct 2011)

BIG PICTURE fun on the Rock (March 2011)

A Year of Collective Paradigm Shifts: Mind, World Body, and Soul...

I am grateful to be ringing in the New Year in a place where I am afforded a couple extra hours to reflect.  As we cross the threshold of 2011 to 2012, there are a few feelings about this shift - the most popular being:  GOOD RIDDANCE!   I will second that; but I also give big thanks.   

This life is a fascinating journey, and as many of you have come to know, is the main focus of this blog.  Though this year marked the end of my 'sabbatical' that I went on about for a couple of years, it ended up being one of the most dense to date.  So personal, painful, joyful, and intense were the paradigm shifts that I often felt too overwhelmed by the experiences to even blog about it - hence the significant lack of soulful and investigative posts this year.   

I met and connected with scores of new souls, each of whom touched and moved and lifted me in ways I can scarcely recall in years past.  I think it had much to do with being more open myself.  When terrifying events in life come to test our characters, or the resilience of our hearts, it's truly the tribes we have formed around us that keep us reaching higher.  And this year was high.  If there was any moment to question the oddity of serendipitous or seemingly coincidentally unlucky events, all one had to do was truly listen to the tale of another, or turn on the BBC news to truly feel connected to something bigger. I can't remember any time of worldwide uproars such as what we witnessed this year - so much so that TIME magazine name The Protestor the person of the year!  To feel this connection is to be charged by it, whatever the circumstances or prior held convictions.  The pulse of our world this year insisted on truth, equality, openness, second chances; it demanded a rebirth of ONE spirit, in friendships, business alliances, communities, and nations.  

As I prepare to look back while stepping forward, I will set my focus on the very long list of things I have to be grateful for this year; my new friendships and the evolution of old ones,  my accomplishments with my creative work, my freedom to travel, and my deeper understanding and connection with my family. And all this despite the very real and frightening challenges I faced regarding all of the above since Jan 1st, 2011.  

Perhaps the thing I am most grateful for is in ending the year in integrity.  I have no hang ups about how I have related to the world - and I can't truly say that about any other year.  I got comfortable enough in my humanity this year to be myself, to stand my ground, and to offer understanding, patience, truth, and love, where ever and whenever I could - and I'm incapable of accounting for the worth of such a gift.     

I've always been one to insist on focusing on gratitude - as it's the only way to see what you have to work with rather than to live in lack.  It's the only way you will feel abundant enough to help someone else. It is the only way you will feel whole enough to forgive others, or to offer true understanding and compassion. True gratitude will keep fear away, and keep you honest.  It's the only way to love your life, to love yourself, and to love your fellow human - who is just as challenged in navigating this journey as you are.  

Happy New Year folks - May you cross into 2012 with an open heart charged with courage to soar ever higher.  Know what you deserve, and dare to manifest it all, and do it with love.   

Thank You Steve Jobs - You Changed It All

I have no words of my own.  Gobsmacked... 


"Steve was among the greatest of American innovators - brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it." ~ Barack Obama

from BBC:  Apple co-founder Steve Jobs dies aged 56

More than almost any other business leader, he was indistinguishable from his company, which he co-founded in the 1970s. 

Apple - whose market value is estimated at $351bn (£227bn) - is now the world's most valuable technology company. Only oil giant Exxon Mobil is worth more.

As the face of Apple, Jobs represented its dedication to high-end technology and fashionable design. 

And inside the company he exerted a level of influence unheard of in most businesses.

Taking A Piss

I do not purport to be a spoofer, satirist, graphic designer, or anything of the like - but I just can't get over the slick timing of the events in the news over the past 2 weeks.  

From all that nonsense with the presidential hopeful Donald Trump, and his rude, baseless, and thoughtless time wasting insistence on getting proof of Barack Obama's birth place; to the disappointing  concession of said proof.  And then, the hysterical and painful slamming of Trump with college haze-like 'you-think-you-can-handle-this-town?' jokes from both Seth Meyers(SNL Head Writer and Cast Member) and Obama at the Whitehouse Correspondence Dinner (PLEASE watch if you somehow missed that...nonstop hilarity); and finally the ultimate, can I say, 'trump card' issuance less that than 48 hours later - the Obama got Osama/You Can't Touch This bitch slap.  

I don't think I've ever seen someone punked to this level ever,  with absolutely no chance of a comeback.  I mean - wow.   It's possibly the funniest and sexiest thing I've ever seen a current president do - to sweep aside a spoiled, rich and bossy hopeful with absolutely no real political agenda, and just a self centered schtick.  

In the latest news: Trump just announced an hour ago that he will not run for President in 2012 - ahahahaaaa  -  bye bye Donald.  Apparently politics and real estate development ain't the same business bitch.  lol 

 

So a friend of mine (thanks for the 'aha' Mark!)  mentioned Wag the Dog when we were going over the whole thing, and that got me all tickled about making a spoof poster of the film.  Of course so much has happened (and is happening) since then, but I had to put this up here for posterity, joining CNN, BBC, ABC, et al in going on and on and on about this...                                                                                            
(Click the image to see details in bigger copy)

In case you missed it by some unfortunate mishap - the jokes:

Some talk about a new project ...'BRANDED'

So finally - a chat about the creative part of the journey - or at least, the current inspiration for my artistic trippin'.  I know it seems like I've been vacationing and getting rewarded for it - haha.  But the truth is my last couple of trips to Jamaica have mainly been about work, work-work-work.  I have 3 new projects slow roasting on the burner now  - but the higher fire is under a series called BRANDED...therefore I AM which I started in the early Spring of this year.  

I've had a couple of delicious 'AHA' moments over the past year and a half regarding the use of social websites, and the maddeningly-genius-connectivity-of-a-near-socio-psychotic-reality that bothered the heck out of me but didn't seem to bother as many other people as I'd thought!  Of course I'm a player and therefore a part of this online global community shift, so it feels oddly dissociative to criticize the mediums that I use on a daily basis - but, my fascination with human complexities and my studies in psychology just dragged me into this analytical and critical discourse - and naturally I had to figure out how to create work out of it.  Hence the first 'exile' image of the series that I posted back in April:

BRANDED - Fool In Exile

BRANDED... is in essence, a rudimentary representation of the seemingly open and sophisticated, yet phatic self-branding we often create on social websites. It is comprised of a series of location portrait and nude photographs showing aphorisms or phrases on body painted subjects; a video short; and an interactive installation (a secret until showtime);  all serving as observations or portrayals of private thoughts and social fears of rejection, isolation, or persecution, - or conversely - social wishes of mass acceptance, popularity, power, and influence.  BRANDED... however, is raw on purpose. I don't want to create polished imagery because I want to test our senses to see if a crudely created image can still be visually, psychologically, and emotionally tangible. And, in this mass intangible coming together there seems to me to be a new collective isolation which begs at the very least, for some mental masturbation on the matter!

I have interviewed a number of people so far for this work, and in so doing I've been inspired to conduct a full scale survey on the usage habits of social websites (which will take me back to my school days when I had to do surveys for my social psych papers - ahhhh!).  It's so fascinating how we all have deeply rooted ideas about our identities and character traits, and how sharply these ideas sometimes contradict our online (onstage) personas.  And what I've found even more interesting is how some of us seem to need to express these altered parts of ourselves to jumpstart or finish our days!  But sadly, if we're not careful, we can be 'outed' but not-so-friendly 'friends'.

BRANDED - Beautiful Mistakes

Just a few days ago it was reported that a young man, shamed in the virtual world by his roommate, shared his last words on Facebook before jumping off the very real George Washington Bridge in New York.¹  And I just heard on the news this week that the first US internet withdrawal clinic (requiring physical check-ins, as opposed to that of virtual clinics -  a sardonic  contradiction) just opened up in Washington!  Actually the nation with the second largest web user population of 94 million*, China, beat the USA (the largest user pop) to this back in 2005, with the opening of a Web Addiction Center for children and young adults - after government officials  cited concerns that the internet was "eroding public morality". And speaking of that - don't you  find it troubling that face-to-face contact has not only decreased as a result of our online social lives, but with the acceptability of our web/iphone/bberry-time demands, many of us actively create that decrease in our scheduled time for hanging out with our friends?  Will the norm of staring into screens make us socially enept?  I kind of think so.  And as a friend of mine noted, and aptly too, even when we are in each others company - the unspoken understanding is that at least 50% of that time will be devoted to staying connected on our devices while chowing on brunch or in the theater watching a flick! 

I just stumbled upon yet another by-product of this phenomenal shift on the BBC news site where the new business concept of friendship rental services are now popping up in several countries - where, yes guys, people are renting 'friends' so they can have company in their actual lives since their real friends are too busy to go to the movies or check out a new restaurant, etc; like online dating if you will. Now some of you may say, 'that's never gonna take off' - 'those people need to get a life' - 'that shit is for looo-sers'; not far from the general protests to social websites in recent years too, until one by one...we conformed.  The point is - this is not my imagination (well duh Berette!)- the virtual world is so close to really taking over that  I have to ask if this 1984-BigBro-touchless-life-of-staring-into-lit-screens is really the way to get closer or to keep in touch (as we ironically justify it)??? Do we want to live in the matrix; I mean really? And though it may seem like it, no, this is not meant to be a seditious plea against the advertising mecca** of Facebook and the like; I mean, maybe all the entertaining online bonding and networking benefits outweigh the unfortunate  community expropriations*** - who knows? I'm just inspired to examine its effects, on me, my relationships, and social behavioral changes in general - for the good and for the bad.  And where Facebook is concerned, how can one effectively speak out against the Goliath of middle and upper class conformity of 500+ million??!!

BRANDED - Signs of Success

Where ever one stands on this topic (which may soon spark sensitive reactions in proportions akin to the other hot topics like religion, politics, and sex)the newly released film "the social network" from the brilliant mind of Aaron Sorkin, has really put the topic on the big thinking table now, which kinda feels like a notarization of my artistic response - heehee - so I am thus, in a rush to share this with you, on my blog, before the tangible gallery exhibit.  And, um, to the first obvious counter response here - touché.

BRANDED - Running for Stillness

 


More Reading:
 ¹ - UPDATE  Rutgers webcam spy Dharun Ravi sentenced to 30 days,  May 2012 
*Wired Magazine, Beijing Clinic Treats Web Addicts, July 3rd, 2005
**Bloomberg Businessweek, How Facebook Sells Your Friends, Sept 24, 2010 
***Net Addiction Souces



 © BRANDED (...therefore I AM)  in name, concept, and imagery are the copyrighted property of Berette Macaulay/SeBiArt.  All rights reserved.