Anne Wedler
Group Dynamic features groups of figures navigating a beautiful but hazardous landscape. The images can stand alone but together tell a larger story, a cautionary tale of people working together or slowly succumbing to the pitfals around them. Each image is a different possibility, groups split up, or try to reunite, or help each other revealing the most dangerous part of the environment is the other humans.
The images are intentionally playful, with toy-like people. The images are intended to be beautiful but also range from ominous to hopeful. This lightness makes the topic of danger approachable. It is relatable but still separate and contained in a fiction. It can be explored as an idea without the burden of the reality of individuals, because the story isn’t about a hero as much as it is about decision-making and group cooperation, or the consequences of social dissonance. The matching red coats make the figures a group emphasizing their similarities with no other identities known reinforcing the idea of a group. No gender or age or nationality is visible, though it is impossible to erase all expectations of identity, they are simply groups of people working together, or drifting apart into a cold dangerous world. This cautionary tale is a reminder of the perils of self-interest, a reminder to work together, safety in numbers, of what really matters, getting through safely.
At this time people are increasingly divided, told they should fear their neighbor and that other people are different and terrible. We need every reminder to work with the group, look for similarities, danger is all around, but nothing is more dangerous than how we face our problems.
Straggler | 18x 24 inches
Coat | 12x 12 inches
Group Dynamic | 18x 24 inches
Climbers | 18x 24 inches
Night Search | 11x 14 inches
Red Raft | 12x 12 inches
Scouts | 16x 20 inches
Samplers | 18x 24 inches
Searchers | 12x 5 inches
Path | 18x 24 inches
Red alert | 16 x 20 inches
Ice caves | 18x 24 inches
Left Behind | 18x 24 inches
Ice climber | 12x 12 inches
Night camp | 11x 14 inches
Last one in | 16x 20 inches
Floating Artifact | 11x 14 inches
Duo | 12x 12 inches