Sadhbh Ryan
Statement
My practice primarily takes the form of painting, working with acrylic, image transfer and board. Through my work, I aim to explore the bittersweet feeling of growing up as a young girl in the early, irony-poisoned, digital age, witnessing the rise of the online 'meme' culture we are now familiar with while navigating influences of both the Internet and the Church.
Text and satirical reproductions of iconic images related to these online communities, ranging from film and television stills to nostalgic characters from 1990s-2000s anime, are used to critique the way girls are often mysticised on websites such as 4Chan and similar online political spaces, which often hold extremist views of women, encompassing fantasies of both reverence and violence toward them, as well as the general violence that stems from radicalisation and isolation online.