How to Steal the American Dream: MFA Thesis - Sculpture

Abstract

The work in my MFA thesis exhibition, How to Steal the American Dream creates a rare opportunity for honest examination and discussion of a political topic in the era of “alternative facts” and “fake news” by using visual strategies to incite curiosity in the viewer. My work persuades viewers to start from a place of curiosity, so their guard is down as they discover the underlying political subject matter. Using bright LED lights and clean, shiny aesthetics, the work, entitled "Gerrymandering: North Carolina Districts 1-13" and "Gerrymandering: Maryland Districts 1-8", presents the bounding shapes of all the US congressional districts from the states of Maryland and North Carolina, which have been deformed and contorted through centuries of extreme partisan gerrymandering. Two sculptural works in the center of the exhibition represent different societal structures: one standing as a critique of contemporary American society, the other positing a utopian reimagination of an alternative way in which a society might be organized.