Mass Consumption & "Disney Units"

Okay, one of the things I am learning is that the creative journey is as much about action (or the making) as it's about the thoughts, messages, and intentions that drive the work.  As a Black artist I am often shouldered with the responsibility of 'identity'.  And, while I do profess an attraction to race and gender as a point of departure, I find that the core of my work speaks to a more collective (American) identity.  So, what is this thing that links us all together as Americans?  I think it's our unique, and often pathological ability to consume, buy, and accumulate.  I think it's become a sort of individual manifest destiny, bolstered by our churches (think: The prosperity movement), self-help gurus (The Secret), and a bevy of other sources too various to name.  Because of this element of our national character, I taken to investigating the notion of packaging and how this enhances consumptive practice...

Our (American) history continues with the persistent notion that anything is potentially sell-able, and if the body corporate has its way even naturally occurring phenomena won't be safe.  I am not judging this factor of American life, I am fascinated by it.  By identifying, and being identified, as black I have an acute awareness of the body (a naturally occurring phenomena) as a commodity to be consumed. Which brings me (naturally) to 'Disney Units'...

As a general habit I've been collecting the CAPTCHA phrases you might find when registering for an online account. Developed as a means to identify humans from computers, CAPTCHA provides an unwitting commentary of contemporary culture.  Okay, I'm reading a lot into these word couplings, but isn't that apart of my role as an artist?  (I goes deep, SON!)  In either case, my collection includes the descriptively unnerving: Disney Units.  I began thinking (deeply) about the fact that this company represents a huge chunk of our cultural currency.  That its products, or Disney Units, are accumulated and spent like cash in our own psyches.  Disney reminds us what princesses look like, that abstinence until marriage is more valuable than sex education, that a well-meaning brunette high schooler need only take a blonde pill to become a pop star, and that black girls are really all conjure women.  The Disney Company is a caricature specialist, who has taken what it previously accomplished through animation and successfully animated live action people.  This next body of work will focus on this high level of complex packaging to present my own version of 'Disney Units'.  Stay tuned...