BIOGRAPHY:
Anna Reed received her BFA from Illinois Wesleyan University and her MA from the University of Illinois and a MFA at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). Working in Chicago, her work addresses the themes of identity, post-humanism, fragmentation, and the boundaries of virtual space. How and where do we exist? Born into Atari and grappling with AI she is continually curious about the intersection of humanity and tech. Created through Xerox, scans, and other low-fi devices, she often uses her body as source images. The physical body confronts the screen and pushes the invisible boundary of human, device, and the virtual. She collaborates with machines and platforms alternating decisions as the works move from physical to digital and back again. She is the recent recipient of the Me & Eve Award by CENTER and has exhibited at EXPO Chicago, Griffin Museum of Science and Industry, The Turchin Center for the Arts, and various galleries across the nation. Anna currently chairs the Leyden High School Art Department and is the digital gallery director for Art ConnectED.
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STATEMENT:
Our media saturated world shapes how we see and project ourselves by making daily events simultaneously precious and mundane. I am exploring the issues of self and the distortion of the self through changing digital forms and the use of media, particularly through the use of cell phones. These hand held personal devices are used intimately to create a curated and often fragmented virtual world. Our lives are often lived in response, or with intention, to the virtual world.
I started by creating portraits using a Xerox machine because it was immediate, low-tech, and distinctive in style. Other images are sources from scans. While the quality is similar the process of image creation is slower creating an intimate performance between human and the machine. The works are layered and collaged creating a complexity between what exists digitally and what is physical.
In my work I continue to question the boundary between the virtual and the individual.