Samara Koseff
Disconnection, 2021
Clay and glazes
Approximately 6 x 8 inches
Earlier this year I started to work on creations made up of individual facial features and I wanted to continue with that focus for this work. I knew I didn't want to just make sections of a face, I wanted to do something relevant to our current types of connection: an exploration of the multiple forms of disconnection through the lens of Zoom. I wanted to make the piece recognisably a face but also incorporate aspects that were not realistic to underline the electronic, tech connection. To mimic digital screen technology, I decided to break up the face into sections —I did this as I thought it would help the face seem recognisable while underlining the disconnect—and pixilate each of them. When I eventually got around to choosing colors, I was debating between keeping the colors more skin-tone and realistic or venturing out of my comfort zone and making it an unusual shade. I decided to give the unusual color a go and was very happy to land on painting the little pixels different shades blue, as I felt like those tones tied in very well with my Zoom theme—especially with the idea of blue light and the Zoom icon color.
I hope this piece makes people think about losses of connection in their life during quarantine and it helps them reflect on their feelings. I also hope that it can evoke a slightly eerie feeling as technology does within connections, but not put off viewers so completely that they won’t be able to think about the emotions this piece is trying to evoke. The goal is to make the person looking question what is based in reality and what isn't within both the piece and technological collections at large.
