MeMeMe: A Personal Investigation of Celebrity Culture

Sixma, Melissa

Savannah, Georgia: Savannah College of Art and Design

2017-08

Thesis (M.F.A.) -- Fibers

Savannah College of Art and Design -- Department of Fibers

Bibliography: pages 68-70

"'MeMeMe' explores the nature of celebrity culture, how it has come to preoccupy the American attention economy, and how it affects individual identity within an increasingly technological society. This paper argues that the prevailing influence of celebrities has enabled a heavily-visual and narcissistic culture, degraded by the superficial relationships that social media has allowed us to each individually have with famous people. The dueling nature of identities that are intimately documented online yet completely detached from our reality has created a void in authenticity. The work in my thesis exhibition 'MeMeMe,' which includes embroidery, weaving, and quilting, is an exploration of my own preoccupations with certain celebrities, and the need to make sense of why these social entities have acquired so much of my own attention."

Keywords: celebrity, meme, fibers, social media, authenticity, individuality, contemporary American culture

CHAIR: First, Deborah

Easley, Cayewah

Roode, Barry

English

Fibers

Text

PDF : 70 pages, color illustrations

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