Pixel Paradox
A strikingly prescient excerpt from T.S. Eliot’s The Four Quartets (1934) resonates with me: “Distracted from distraction by distraction.” In today’s world, with its constant barrage of technology and overwhelming stimuli, it’s comforting to see distraction as part of a historical cycle, something that can be overcome with intention. Eliot’s concept of “tumid apathy” — a bloated indifference to life — feels to me like watching a once-vibrant landscape slowly pixelate, where rich details blur into fragmented indifference, with digital noise obscuring the beauty of the natural world.
Whether walking in the woods, hiking up a hillside, or sitting by the sea, nature has a grounding effect that pulls me away from anxious ruminations about family, societal issues, or existential concerns. Staying present and not losing time in the whirlwind of distractions is often challenging. To reclaim a sense of purpose and resist the drain of social media, I am thoughtful about where and how I place my attention.
Using conventional photographic tools, this series manually disrupts pixels — the smallest units of the digital visual world, exploring the subtleties of perception and the bias of reality through a technologically mediated lens.
The contrast between the chaos of nature and the precision of digital manipulation critiques how we navigate the intersection of technology and human experience, asking us to reconsider our engagement with both.
