1. Sarah Mei Sherman uses polaroid for her project titled "Screen Touch." For some of her pictures she utilizes a type of filter that makes the image look faded in some way. Some have vignettes that makes the pictures have this film like shadow around the edges.
2. For this project Sherman traveled to Xiamen, China. She noticed the there seems to be an abundance of smartphone usage among the youth there. She photographs the teens and their environment in a way to show their connection or disconnection between each other and their surroundings. In one picture you see a couple kissing with their eyes slightly opened. Something intimate between them are hidden or tarnished by their facial expressions, a canvas of blank faces. Their lips are touching close to each other, but not really touching. A way to show their connection, or lack thereof. One picture shows a girl playing with another girl's hair. Perhaps it is her way of substituting for the lack of a smart phone. She needs to be distracted by something tactile, some thing she needs to get her hands on while both of them share the same blank stares. The other picture shows another girl fading into a type smoke or fog. Perhaps Sherman's way of showing the slow disappearance of China's youth behind their technology. It is insidious and slow.
3. I understand the messages behind this project. In a way, I do feel like it is a slow epidemic. It is harmless, but it could dangerous in the long term. Almost everyone uses smartphones and it has almost becomes an extra limb attached to their bodies. It is interesting to see how this detachment from technology shows our vulnerabilities when it comes to intimacy with each other and our surroundings.
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