7 Artists Exploring Our Relationships With Our Screens
Seven powerful images exploring our relationships with screens and technology
Screens. We have a love/hate relationship with them. While they are a window to an infinite world of information, tools, possibilities, and interactions, being dependent on our device can be harmful to our quality of life. While certain apps might make life easier and unlock a vault of creative potential, being bombarded by messages and alerts has been proven to increase stress.
During lockdown, our dependency on our screens became even more intense. They provided tools to combat loneliness and stay connected to the world, while churning out overwhelming information and monopolizing our attention. Life events were shared over webcam–birthdays, bachelorette parties, even funerals–and cultural events were live-streamed to audiences watching from the comfort of their own sofas. Here we round up seven artworks that explore our relationships with screens, reflecting on both the good and the bad.
Eleni is an illustrator from Edinburgh, Scotland, who now lives and works in London. The illustration below was featured in The New York Times, as part of a feature reflecting on how grandparents and grandchildren can still visit each other during the pandemic. During lockdown, screens have helped us stay close to the loved-ones we’re separated from. With adults over 60 being at much greater risk of being hospitalized or dying from Covid-19, most grandparents are living in isolation from the rest of their families. To keep loneliness at bay and relationships alive, many of us have taken up doing group activities over video calls.
New York-based Illustrator Cari Vander Yacht was flown out to Melbourne, Australia, by Stella Artois to draw live at the Australian Open. This piece was from her first day, when most of the fans were flocking to the practice courts to try to catch a glimpse of their favorite players. It shows how in momentous occasions in our lives, we instantly pull our phones out and witness what’s happening both in the flesh and through our screens. The final illustration was put up all around the city, including in Central Station.
Ji Lee (@jilee)
Ji Lee was born in Korea, raised in Brazil, and lives in New York. He studied graphic design and advertising, and works across different disciplines, mixing photography, design, typography, collage, and art. He describes his work as making “tiny sabotages to the normal.” In this image, Lee explores how his relationship with his phone worsened during lockdown, publishing it online with the following caption:
“One of many negative impacts of being locked down for the past several months due to the pandemic, is spending way too much time looking at my phone. I was already doing it too much before the lockdown, but now, things are much much worse.
Just like any other addictions (alcohol, drugs, gambling, eating), it’s having a toll in my life: worsening vision, my mental health, my relationship with my wife, and I’m often not fully present when I’m with my kids because I’m looking down at my phone. I need to confront this issue seriously before it gets even worse.”
Ji teaches the Domestika course, Transforming Your Creative Ideas into Personal Projects.
Claire Merchlinsky is a Brooklyn-based illustrator and art director originally from Atlanta, Georgia. Claire created this illustration for New York Magazine’s review of the Met Opera performances that took place over Zoom, concluding that “the sound is often tinny, the stage patter awkward, but live-streamed events have generated moments of startling power.” During lockdown, performers swapped the grand stage and a packed audience for their living rooms and a webcam. Thanks to the almighty internet, days and days at home became peppered with classical music concerts, online film festivals, or virtual trips to museums or national parks: culture became accessible to all, and our screens became a way to connect not only without loved-ones but to artists and culture enthusiasts.
The illustration below by Jun Cen was published in The New York Times Sunday Review as a part of a feature titled, “What Does It Mean to ‘Look Like Me’?” Both the illustration and the piece reflect on the importance of seeing diverse faces on our screens, and how the phrase “look like me” is used in calls for greater representation of minorities.
The stories we see on our screens have the power to provide solace, provoke empathy, and deepen understanding, which is why we need diverse stories about diverse people. The article explores how this phrase “look like me” is often used by members of minority groups to talk about diversity in all aspects, not just referring to physical appearance: “What the visual metaphor usually signifies, then, is a kinship of social identity. That was apparent in July when the soccer star Megan Rapinoe declared that ‘Trump’s message excludes people that look like me.’ She didn’t mean extremely fit white women; she meant lesbians and gays,” writes philosophy professor Kwame Anthony Appiah in the piece.
Max Guther is a Berlin-based illustrator and designer. He uses a unique 3D aesthetic to bring his illustrations exploring the minute details of everyday life, to life. Max created this illustration for a piece published in the New York Times Magazine that pondered the question, 'What if working from home goes on ... Forever? Miserable as it can often be, remote work is surprisingly productive — leading many employers to wonder if they’ll ever go back to the office.' Max highlights the chaotic nature of working in your living space and having to multitask around the clock. While key workers continued going to work every day during quarantine, those in roles that are able to be carried out independently or collaboratively online, found their jobs (if they didn’t lose them) and interactions with their colleagues moved entirely online. Meetings and even after-work drinks took place over Zoom.
Emma Hanquist (@emmahan)
Finding your illustration specialty can be as challenging—and as rewarding—as finding your voice and style. Swedish designer Emma Hanquist has found hers in Editorial Illustration, a branch that revolves around creating idea-driven illustrations that complement and enhance a written piece.
In this illustration, she designed the poster for Sweeden's biggest book fair - Göteborg Book Fair - which for the first time in 35 years won't be held in its traditional physical form. Emma appreciates the technology that provides a solution to bring people together virtually.
Emma teaches the course Editorial Illustration for Magazines, chek it out and learn how to use illustration as a communication tool to creatively enhance a text.
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