REALITY’S RHETORIC

(Fall 2021, inkjet print, 44 x 44 in.)

In the age of hyper consumerism, people are becoming less and less surrounded by humans and more by objects and media that’s created to sell those objects. Large corporations have saturated reality with commercialized media to such an extent that their brand identities are installed deep within our own identities, constituting who we are and what we do. Using a combination of logo, text, color, material, and form, corporations create a universal language that attaches superficial meanings to objects, where meaning is derived from a brand’s identity and what it can communicate to others rather than the practical function of a product. Reality’s Rhetoric is a large-scale image that explores the metaphysical essence of the language that capitalism, consumerism, and materialism speaks in. The image features sixteen popular products arranged into a singular image that immerses the spectator into a reality where noting but objects and images exist, similar to our everyday reality. Despite the product’s logos being removed, many of the brands are instantly recognizable, revealing the exploitative relationship between corporations and identity. Without their logos and accompany text, products become mere objects, and viewers get a grossly intimate perspective of the meaningless things they consume.