Reagan Affonso

In this body of work I wanted to embody my experience with escapism, both in the negative and positive sense. Escapism is something that has been an omnipresent part of my life since I can remember. Whether that was playing with imaginary friends when I was 5, or diving head first into a new world through the means of a good book, escapism has been there. My original concept was to find ways to portray the same person finding ways to escape their day to day life, but once I actually got into it I felt as though this concept was too limiting. Instead I decided to go in a new direction, this time focusing on a wider definition of what escapism might be. My goal was to challenge my viewers’ initial interpretation of what escapism is. The common association usually revolves around fantasy and various ways of playing pretend, but in reality escapism takes on a different form for everyone, it may just be harder to recognize. 

For each piece I sought to analyze different forms of escapism, usually something that wouldn’t generally be regarded as such. As such, I focused heavily on modern forms, like fashion, YouTube, dating simulators, etc. As a means of mirroring my attempts to broach this from a relevant stance, most of my pieces were done digitally. I find digital media to be much more freeing, so I used these pieces as a chance to explore the presentation of my pieces. To bring to life a video game start screen, I added small animations which really helped to push the realism of a start screen. Digital media also tends to be much cleaner, so I thought that would be a subtle hint towards the idea that escapism sells the idea of perfection not reality. “Metamorphosis” drew inspiration from a famous animator and director, thus I thought animating the piece would be a good homage. The pieces that I did traditionally strayed away from relevancy, and fell more into line with my personal experiences with escapism. I hoped that making the traditional mediums would help to create a more grounded tone for the pieces through the minor imperfections in juxtaposition to the digital pieces. “Soiree” draws from my imagination as a child, now a distant memory of a story I made up to entertain myself at my father’s many gatherings. The other two traditional pieces took a deeper look into the excessiveness or over-reliance on escapism. “Alien Advert” examines the relationship between the beauty industry and the general public. Often advertisements imply that their product sells a new identity, which in turn can be very detrimental. 

My intention was to point out the correlation between the concept of escapism and beauty standards. “Isobel” on the other hand is my personal representation of the isolating feeling that escapism often carries. The monotone palette and expressionless face were just a few of the ways I tried to create a lonely atmosphere. In unison, I hoped my collection would at first glance just seem like light-hearted pieces, but with my guide could potentially open shed light on a topic that isn’t often discussed. 

I chose a very classic arrangement, two rows, three pieces on top, four on the bottom. The top row would consist of the three pieces with pink undertones, while the one below displays the ones with orange undertones, with pieces with similar colors grouped together, as a means of cohesion. The three pieces with darker palettes would be placed in the center, so as to draw the audience's attention inward. This not only draws attention to the collection, but it also helps to direct the eye. Two of my pieces have tan backgrounds that are very similar in shade, so I elected to put them opposite (diagonally) in order to balance them. I am aware that my style and collection at first glance does not read as something very deep, so in order to gain attention, I need to first peak their curiosity. Once they look further though, I hope to inspire new perspectives on: what counts as escapism, what are the benefits and disadvantages of it as a tool, etc.