collapse

Collapse occurs on both collective and individual levels. I am interested in the phenomena of breakdown—the collapse and consequential rebuilding of identity. The collapse of concepts propels individuals and societies alike into complete disorientation and breakdown. Humanity exists delicately, in the ever present possibility of collapse. The collective anxiety that thrives as a product of this instability can manifest in nearly all aspects of human life. It often motivates an intense need for control.

When we are consumed with the need to control we are no longer flexible. Unlike the branch that can bend and adapt to the various stresses of nature, we are prone to break. It is important to recognize that breaking is a common, even orderly, part of nature. I mean to say that breaking is a synchronized response to a pressure too powerful to allow another outcome. It follows the laws of physics. In this sense, the breakdown, as mystifying and devastating as it is, is a particular response to particular events and thus “happens for a reason.” Sometimes, it is the disguised means of our survival.