Pixels Obscure

The Falling Man, The Enola Gay, Dr. MLK jr. Removes a Burnt Cross from His Lawn, Self Immolating Monk, Tank Man in Tianenman Square, Five digital edits of photographs. Medium: Artificial Color Compression on Digital Photography. I'm taking images of controversial and memorable moments in US history and turning these serious and impactful photos into pixel art. Pixel art is novel and irreverent. This produces a kitschy, novel effect that makes the viewer want to see these works as new or even neo-retro cool. But it has the secondary effect of obscuring the image and making them forgettable. What this short series of images does is draw attention to that conflict within the brain. The use of big and more colorful pixels alters the meaning of the photographs. The pixels make the guilt we feel when we see these. This is meant to draw attention to human nature to want to forget the past atrocities and embarrassments, and instead focus on moving on, finding what's new and cool out there. But we can never forget our past. We can't and we shouldn't. That's what the guilt one feels when they see these images means.