Rhythmic Disturbance: An exploration of how media cycles shape and interrupt the lived experience of traumatic grief (2022)
Rhythmic Disturbance was developed for my capstone project while completing my undergraduate degree at RMIT University in 2022. This project was a response to my lived experience of traumatic grief following the sudden death of my cousin in 2020. This shocking incident attracted an enormous amount of media and public attention and took place during the height of the of the COVID-19 lockdowns; exacerbating isolation and limiting access to usual grieving rituals. The private grieving process continued to be repeatedly interrupted due to relentless media coverage of court proceedings related to the incident.
The impact of the media interest led to a line of enquiry regarding 'death [as] a theatre for the living' (Seltzer, cited in Smith 2022:29). The public fascination with tragedy and the macabre is filtered through sensationalised headlines and media theatrics. I used self-portraiture in the style of mugshot photography, referencing the powerlessness of involuntary exposure. The portraits were repeatedly glitched and distorted using digital and analogue print processes; demonstrating the media's persistent interference with the capacity to grieve and heal. Akin to the traumatised body, evidence of the disruption is embedded in the work.
The portraits were taken into the public sphere and wheat pasted up around Melbourne. This was a performative action, I reasserted myself into a space where I had felt silenced and disempowered. The ephemerality of the paste ups comments on the disposable nature of the news cycle; new day = new victim. The posters remained vulnerable to interference from the elements and the public until they naturally deteriorated and faded away.
Reference:
Smith, R (2022) The Spectacle of Criminal Justice: Mass Media and the Criminal Trial, Emerald Publishing, United Kingdom.
Exhibited:
Fine Art Graduate Exhibition (2022) RMIT University School of Art Melbourne VIC.
Inter-print-ations (2024) Rubicon Gallery Melbourne VIC.