I have a fascination with people and their attitudes towards life today opposed to when I was growing up in the sixties. People today live in a techno bubble and their lives revolve around mobile phones and computers so much so that it has become an addiction like drugs or smoking. I am looking at the way that this way of life has virtually destroyed society and the community spirit that we as a nation held so dear. The art of social interaction is non existent unless it is performed either by phone, email or texting. In my day technology was an early transistor radio and a black and white TV and this was seen as cutting edge but it didn't stop us talking to each other and making life long friends and associations. People today have become paranoid and aggressive towards one another so much so it has created suspicion and distrust and instead of building society links it has put people into isolation. People don't realise that the technology that they crave so much is nothing but de,funked weapons technology which still functions as an information gatherer for anybody that chooses to use it against them. I find it so sad that the world that I grew up in has now been taken over by the likes of Facebook and other social media platforms. People need to get their heads out of the sand and start to look at what is really going on around them before it's too late. My practice as a photographer is to build miniature model scenarios of historical events but my images of these scenes are not meant for entertainment, it is my attempt to show people a glimpse into the struggles that people went through to give us the freedom that we totally abuse and take for granted. I build these models as graffic and gory as I can for realism so that I can create an empathy with the viewer because I think by shocking people back into the real world is the only way that maybe we can stop history repeating itself. I have exhibited my work and tested my empathy theory and just by looking at the peoples faces when viewing my work I could see that my theory was right. We see ourselves as the most intelligent beings on this planet when really it's just vanity otherwise we would stop war altogether and grow up. My work is also about remembrance, or the lack of it. War has become so dehumanised through video games and films that it is now seen as fun to watch or act out, I believe through letting our children play these graffic war video games, we are breeding a generation of potential assasins. Remembrance today is seen as just a tradition that is celebrated once a year like Christmas or a birthday. They should be remembered every time a good thing happens in our lives because they died so that could happen for you. Selfishness, ignorance and arrogance are the catalyst for making history repeat itself.
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