deepestthoughts

Have we met?

by Margaret Rodriguez

As technology and societies develop, cultures expand and change. One remarkable change happening right now, is how technology has altered the concept of meeting people. Our world has gotten smaller when the we sent letters via the post office , and the future took another leap when the telephone was invented. Now we have the cellphone, computers and internet. Traditionally, people met face to face to transact business, talk and fix alliances, woo and fall in love but as our options broaden by means of communication, how can we say that we’ve really met someone?

The exhibit tries to examine the nuances of the two schools of thought of meeting people: Meeting people face to face , and exploring the interaction between individuals using tools, take for example : through the mediation of the internet.

As an avid user of the internet Margaret Rodriguez delves into the medium of cyberspace as the virtual world that draws people of the same interest together, and also keeps them apart. She explores how much the internet has redefined communication and values, and people are now moving towards the abstract than the material and how computers can sometimes make a person more subtle, intuitive, expressive, creative that would have been harder to reveal in a face to face contact. She reveals these ideas by making collage portraits of the people she has known and interacted with in the internet.

She has chosen to work with textiles and handmade items to show a sense of attachment to the materials and techniques employed. This is in reaction to the proliferation of technology as she wants to portray the intimacy of relationships despite the use of synthetic tools like cellphones, computers and cable television.

Deepest thoughts

2001. Found my online soulmate. This is a representation of what i know of him. Making this painting took a lot from me,and it’s both happy and sad. I have yet to meet him. But i know it will never be the same, like the summer of 2001.