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Artist Note
This piece began with sheer frustration at the Trump administration and what I see as its efforts to reshape reality through disinformation. I've long been horrified and fascinated by the role propaganda plays in shaping public perception. The Cambridge Analytica scandal first drew my attention to how social media could be used to manipulate people's worldviews. More recently, reading How to Win an Information War by Peter Pomerantsev, about propaganda and counterpropaganda during World War II, deepened that fascination.
Watching the cultural effects of disinformation unfold over the past decade has felt like witnessing a car crash in slow motion. Except the consequences are felt around the world.
That was the seed for this work. And it actually started as a painting. My original plan was to paint realistic shards of glass, but I started wondering: what if I broke an actual mirror instead? The sharp edges, sense of danger, and physical act of breaking something felt more visceral and true to the subject.
As I spent time with the piece, I started seeing the shattered mirror as a reflection of our own perception, and how we filter reality through what we already know and believe. I also recognized parallels between political disinformation and abuse dynamics I’ve experienced personally, where reality is rewritten to avoid accountability.
What began as a response to propaganda became a much more personal exploration of perception, power, and the stories we take in as truth.
Materials
Original: Mixed-media assemblage of shattered mirror glass, acrylic paint, tape, and epoxy resin in original frame. The glass surface is finished with a smooth layer of epoxy resin.
