Photo © Kateryna Khmylnina
Talent of the Year 2020 - NOMINEE: Kateryna Khmylnina
Euphoria
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Reflecting on concepts of perception, imagination and addiction, Euphoria supports a renewal of relationship between human and nature. With most of the images taken for Instagram at the time of my addiction to it in 2018, my work calls into question our perception of reality and our actual connection with nature.
Euphoria, an intense form of pleasure, results from activation of the brain's reward system that evolved to help animal survival. Therefore, it meant to be somewhat of that, the reward that follows after survival. An example of euphoria is how women feel after giving birth.
I experienced euphoria after several days sailing at sea, after spending a cold night in a tent, and after getting a hitch of likes on Instagram.
As I never supported the idea of social media, the purpose of my work was to solve the mystery of my developed addiction to Instagram.
It took 2 years to understand. The purpose of every being on Earth is survival. We are hard-wired to survive, therefore, we seek that feeling of euphoria, as a motivation of our survival. With no need to do anything in order to survive today, euphoria would be hard to experience, if it wasn't for drugs, alcohol and smartphones.
The paradox is that the easier to experience, the easier euphoria will cause an addiction, because it is not an actual reward. Euphoria that is not crucial for our survival, leads to the exact opposite of survival: self-distraction.
Euphoria, an intense form of pleasure, results from activation of the brain's reward system that evolved to help animal survival. Therefore, it meant to be somewhat of that, the reward that follows after survival. An example of euphoria is how women feel after giving birth.
I experienced euphoria after several days sailing at sea, after spending a cold night in a tent, and after getting a hitch of likes on Instagram.
As I never supported the idea of social media, the purpose of my work was to solve the mystery of my developed addiction to Instagram.
It took 2 years to understand. The purpose of every being on Earth is survival. We are hard-wired to survive, therefore, we seek that feeling of euphoria, as a motivation of our survival. With no need to do anything in order to survive today, euphoria would be hard to experience, if it wasn't for drugs, alcohol and smartphones.
The paradox is that the easier to experience, the easier euphoria will cause an addiction, because it is not an actual reward. Euphoria that is not crucial for our survival, leads to the exact opposite of survival: self-distraction.