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Introspection: The Junior S**t-Show

External Consciousness

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Emilie Dashe

External Consciousness by Emilie Dashe

My project entitled External Consciousness was started in Micol Hebron's class, Art and Spirituality, where I decided to map my spiritual understanding of my own subconscious over an extended period of time. As the semester ended, I continued the project because of the monumental importance of what I was starting to discover. The idea was to conceptualize an inconceivable aspect of my own psyche that would start from an introspective and personal place and extend outwardly by relating to a universal understanding of the human spirit. There’s a profound power in the way that subtle daily efforts can create monumental change. The goal of this project is to create a body of work that is in dialogue between inconceivable chaos and visual representation.

My purpose is to understand the power of the subconscious in daily increments over a large period of time—a period that initially was created by enforced confinement due to the pandemic—so as to further my understanding of innate human spirit over time. In an era of social media that has broken our sense of time and space, with the recycling of information and data to an endless degree, this work is relevant and urgent within the context of defining a period that has lost its sense of time and been set apart from all other periods in history. I started this project in my studio apartment as a way to cope with what I was experiencing through confinement. In a physical sense, my room and studio and living area has all been conflated to the same space, which has inherently affected the way I conduct my practice.

The paintings became a daily ritual that kept track of how I was feeling through color and gestural movement. When I look back at them now, it is clear that they are an index of something much greater.

The effect of time cannot be defined, understood or conceived in one single moment. Time can only be conceptualized through the visual accumulation of moments. This project facilitates the intersection between art and science by forming a new understanding of how we perceive and conceptualize the passage of time through periods of social chaos.
INTROSPECTION: THE JUNIOR S**T-SHOW
A culmination of works from our days and nights alone with our thoughts of the past, present, and future.

With already a year of isolation and quarantine under their belt, the 9 juniors at Chapman University reflect on their time spent alone through their show, Introspection; The Junior S**t Show. For some, this forced time of solitude has been one of spiritual and self exploration. For some, the already terrible situation of being in a pandemic was heightened by blasts from the past, stress over the present, and a painful mixture of dread and hope for the future. For all, it has been an absolute “s**t-show,” to put it lightly.

Some may ask, “Who are the Juniors? What do they bring to the table?” To that, they respond that they aren’t a monolith of like-minded artists, yet when they arrive together, they’re a wave. Social injustice, mental health, self-discovery and introspection are included in their “shit show.” They find it quite fitting that the themes they address all have the commonality of the human condition, as they’ve had ample time with little to no human interaction.

For a year now, they’ve only known each other through screens. They’ve experienced the uncertainty of the pandemic with an intangible community of faces staring back at them. The Juniors would like to take this moment to give a shout out to Zoom for being a forum to sustain any bit of normalcy that remains. Go try telling past you from a year ago that there’s an art show you can experience in bed, pantsless, banana bread in hand and toilet paper stock-piled in the cabinet. If you do show up pantsless, please don’t tell anyone though.
Although there have been countless roadblocks in the past year, the Juniors have prevailed. There is much to be said about a class that faces adversity and wins together. To celebrate this success, the nine of them would’ve loved to give everyone in attendance donuts; a similar bribe that has seemingly worked wonders for Krispy Kreme. However, given that this show is virtual, the postage would’ve been above our budget ($0) so you’ll have to settle for our art instead.

Please join us for the reception on April, 14th from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM.