( i love you with no strings attached )

BFA Alumni

Major: Photography

Graduation Year: 2017

Artist Statement:

My photography is an investigation of the internet and its effect on current gay culture. As a millennial I identify as a product of mass culture and the internet, and I use my upbringing to inform my practice. My work is exploring this idea of how technology has become a barrier within the gay community and how we interact with one another through online platforms. These available means of communication through phone applications and other websites provide us with the opportunity to have sex at our fingertips rather than instigating something more substantial. As someone who is an active participant on the internet and similarly utilizes these resources to engage with other men, I try to reexamine my own desires and intentions through photography. I question my experience with being a lover in light of these online interactions and acknowledge my desires to be intimate in a more meaningful way. I believe that as gay men we have progressed exponentially regarding our pride and rights. However, it feels as though we are regressing and not allowing room for something more significant to happen by the way the community connects through these interfaces. That is something I am not proud of. I aim to reveal this harsh and unnecessary separation between lust and love in hopes that it will remind the gay community that these two elements are a part of a relationship and can, and should be, synonymous.