Desensitized UNCC Rowe Gallery, Charlotte, NC - 2023

I curated this group exhibition to confront the contemporary reality of overexposure to horror and tragedy on a global scale. Thanks to social media, information can be shared worldwide in an instant. “Disaster porn” is plastered on our daily news feeds, making us privy to inhumanities that seem half a world away. Yet, in the face of all this suffering, people feel as if they remain powerless on an individual level. As we embrace the wonders of the internet, we simultaneously must face the backlash on our mental health and social habits. Death and cruelty have become tragically beautiful things, romanticized to the point of brutal fetish. And with that constant exposure to indescribable horrors, numbness swiftly follows. Our show investigates different aspects of desensitization in the contemporary world in relation to how we observe the human body. We examine things such as violence, interconnectedness, and the dangerous power of viewership. This therapeutic exploration attempts to reestablish some meaningless sense of control over the unfair chaos of the world while expressing dire concern for the state of humanity at large. Included are works by Sydney Carmer, Caroline Walls, Mikayla Wells, Skyler Vink, Grace Bishop, and Kelli Crockett.