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Contemporary modes of communication are forcing a change in personal relationships; as well as between artist and subject. By creating a social networking profile, one asks for the world to bear witness to the smallest details of their lives. I speak to my subjects through the Internet, on the social networking website, www.Facebook.com. Many people in my generation, 18-34, (myself included) use the Internet, email, and text messages to communicate, far more often than we use the telephone, and the now archaic handwritten letter. Now the over 30 crowd is the largest growing demographic on Facebook. I often find myself thinking … When did part of our social lives relocate to the Internet? When did 'friend' become a verb? I have created a new identity within the Facebook community. Through the use of digital images, video, text, and website links I explore this new community and it’s impact on our interpersonal relationships. In a very short period of time, our mode of communication and our semantics have changed dramatically. Though we still interact face-to-face there is a technology forced duality in our relationships. We cannot exist simply in the physical world. To not have a virtual self is at best to be considered old fashioned, but at worst it means being left behind as our peers explore virtuality.
