Displacement from Miscommunication

These series of works depict figurative and psychological scenarios exploring the theme of displacement caused from miscommunication. The idea evolved from a general interest of how people engage in everyday conversation but there is always some side effect of not fully delivering the message because of cultural barriers, the tone of the messages, or just the way the words are chosen in the language. The environment allows the figures to interact with written or audial ciphers in their own distinctive ways, whether it is anxiety, indifference, reluctance, fear, or bewilderment. The surreal environment is both familiar and unknown to the viewers, which accentuates the character’s awkward disassociation with the space. The characters are the accidental landers of the space they occupy in, the strangers who do not belong. The cup phones repetitively appear as metaphors for the communication between people. Along with miscommunication, the pieces deal with missing identity, a sense of belonging, and a search for cultural heritage in the midst of absurdity. Although the overall setting of the works are melancholic, the works leave some room for the figures to endure fear and find their true self in the process. Acrylic on Wood Panel