So, I've talked previously about the fact I am working with a collaborator, but I have not expanded that idea yet on this blog. In conjunction with that, it's also important to talk more about the final direction of the exhibition, and how that corresponds to collaboration and the formation of artist-groups.  Its become apparent to me that in order to really talk about these ideas of alienation and the formation of collectives present in the work, my final exhibition cannot only be of my work, but has to include the other artists I work with, and have collaborated with, in order to attack the idea of autonomy in production, and drive home the concept of the collective.  Here is a bit from my thesis where I talk more extensively about these ideas:

The key component to all my work, is addressing that it is not done alone.  Though the concept of Primitivism was meant to break apart traditional hegemonic ideologies, it should also be noted that it was a westernized self-invention of the concept of otherness.  This would be problematic, if the success of the envisionment was not dependent on the creation of the ‘family’ in that otherness.  The characters in the pictures were marginalized and alienated because of their invented otherness, and so they formed a collective- a family in which to thrive.  This is a representation for the artist.  The artist commonly works from a marginalized position, but finds other artists to work with in order to breed ideas, sympathies, and ultimately collaborative work.  I address this familial building relationship in the photos, and again reiterate it in two more films produced that expand on these same ideas of alienation and marginalization and the collective and family that rises from that.  The collective not only challenges the ideas of the autonomous ‘genius-artist’, but also recognizes the collective as fostering an artistic wellspring.  In finality, this concept is brought to full actualization through the final exhibition of work.  In recognizing the collective, I am curating three other artists (two of whom are not in the Art and Design Program) into my allotted exhibition space- all of the work exploring the ideas of alienation, marginalization, and the formation of families or collectives, while conceptualing concreting it in show.