Technology has become a great thing, hasn’t it? It has enabled the world to become globally interconnected. This connectivity has become easier with smartphones; our connections to the world are now simply a few taps away. At first, I thought having that tool at my disposal was amazing, but what inspired me to make this story was not because of what technology makes convenient for me, but what it has made convenient for those that mean harm.
Ubaldo
Mohammed
Monica
Stephan
Tahj
Emilia
Robinson
John
Caroline
YOuL
When creating these images, I intended to have a very digitized aesthetic, something you would typically expect if you were on the back end of various programs you would find on the internet, like Instagram, Facebook, or Snapchat. In a sense these applications are like databases, we are supposed to trust these companies with our personal information, but the data we give them is kept in less than secure environments in some cases; that is what sets the stage for my story. I want to shed light on the malicious purposes that our current technology can be used for, such as identity theft because I feel that it is not emphasized enough how easily our data can be stolen from other entities. The text in the images, the portraits themselves, along with the use of colors are all used to create visually interesting pieces that invite viewers to investigate each piece further and try to piece together what is going on in this series. It can happen so quickly, and at the same time, we may never figure out who is the thief stealing that data. That mystery of the unknown is what unsettles me the most about all the hacking going on in the world.
