Neutral Reaction (Video Art)

Year of creation: 2019

Neutral Reaction was my undergraduate dissertation project. Over the years, the potential power of media to influence identity and personal relationships has become a central concern in my work. Media impacts are visible across everyday life— from beauty standards and lifestyle choices to clothing, friendships, and social ties. Tackling this topic created an opportunity, however small, for social awareness.

Following Stuart Hall’s view of audiences as agency and media as structure, the piece stages a constant action–reaction: sometimes the audience “wins,” and sometimes the media. Neutral Reaction portrays a family under the bombardment of media information and data, a picture of how audiences are affected and transformed. The concept draws on the Hypodermic Needle Theory, research, observation, and lived experience.