ELLIOT SIMPSON

Synchronous (2023)
Elliot Simpson, 16, Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate Vocational School
(Digital Mixed Media)

This piece is inspired by our dependence on technology during Covid and the everlasting effect it has now after the intense waves. When social interactions were limited we went online, on our phones, computers and laptops. This self-portrait, of me and a majority of the population, shows how we ourselves have become almost one with technology. The piece depicts a person in the night on their phone, the blue light shining on their face, but their face is actually an outlet. They have become the technology they are so attached to. I was inspired by the surrealist artist René Magritte for his simplicity and symmetry. With that theme my person is in the dead center of the page as it is the focus of the piece. The whole piece is grayscale except for the blue light protruding from the phone which gives more emphasis on the theme of technology. I went for a more minimalistic style which is not very common in surrealism but it makes this piece original to me. Overall I hope that this piece makes people conscious of their technology use and hopefully allows them to “disconnect” and be social in person after the anti-social few years we had during covid.