Brett William Childs Portfolio

brett william childs

brett william childs

brett william childs 805.216.6791 brettwilliam.co brett@brettwilliam.co

Through my work I focus on the relationship between individuals and the larger groups that they constitute.

Specifically, I’m interested in what agency individuals possess in a world largely comprised of complex systems.

The environment in which we live shapes the formation of who we are and, to some extent, we can change that world. Our actions are simultaneously influenced by our surroundings while also influencing our surroundings, an outward expansion of our personal identity to meet the compression of our social environments. How does an individual’s actions effect this structure? Can it? This abstract structure can be seemingly resistant to change.

These questions have been at the forefront of all the work I’ve created recently. The images I make are always, in one way or another, about the individual. Recently writings on narrative, identity, and recognition, have been the heart of my work. Ricœur situates the act of recognition, both of an individual being recognized by another and also of an individual recognizing another, as the basis of individuation. I strive to allow my subjects to be recognized rather than just seen.