Sent With Gentle Effect

Hayley Martell performance and video installation at Sad Gallery in Greenpoint Brooklyn.

"Consumer capitalism has become the ultimate strategy of oppression, as major corporations feed us the idea that if we just accumulate enough distractions, we can be transported away from the reality that loneliness is each human’s birthright. As consumer demand became detached from ‘needs’ to ‘wants’ (which can remain unsatisfied), projective individualism took hold on the American psyche. We began using consumer capitalism to project the kind of people we wanted to (materially) be and stayed wrapped up in capitalism to afford our vision of individualism. We did this even as we subconsciously felt it failing to take away our fundamental fear of death- much to our collective chagrin. What does it mean to recon with this loneliness? What does it mean to feel more connected to our objects than to the humans in our lives? Was Wilson a visual extension of Tom Hanks or a mere distraction from his current reality?" -Hayley Martell

Hayley Martell is a performance artist based in New York, whose work investigates gender performativity, behavioral psychology, and linguistics. She uses spoken word, video, sculpture, and movement to create submersive experiences for her audiences. Her work has been exhibited along the East Coast including presentations at Otion Front Studio, Glasshouse Artlifelab, SIGNAL, and on Rhizome.org.