Why do you think people respond so strongly to your show and your content online?
I think I’m a lot more raw, and I hate using that word, but I truly am an open nerve to the world. I’m very dramatic because of that. And I think I process my emotions differently than most people, which makes me able to speak on behalf of how I feel in a way that a lot of people don’t really think about. I’m constantly in a state of being overcome by emotion. Even when I feel dull or numb or something, it’s just crippling.
Do you think viewers feel a kind of parasocial relationship with you, or are they actually projecting their own feelings/problems?
I think it’s more of a projection thing, because I think something about my way repels parasocial behaviour. I think maybe because there’s not a lot of mystery to me, I kind of lay it all out. I explain, especially on my blog, the emotional impact of everything all the time. I don’t breed intrigue, I don’t think.
Do you look at artists like Marina Abramović as models for the work that you’re doing?
If I’m a part of a lineage, I would say I highly respect, kiss the ring, and acknowledge I would be nothing without the existence of [New York performance artist] Molly Soda. Period. But I see myself as a part of a huge web and family of net artists and e-girls. When I’m in a room with those people, I feel my most seen and appreciated and respected and loved. And I feel like anything that I can say to my friends who do net art or my friends who identify as e-girls, my opinions and my words will always be respected because they know exactly what I mean and their relationship with the internet is also the most important relationship that they have in their life.
Do you think work from these artists isn’t taken as seriously as it should be?
I think it doesn’t get as much respect as it deserves, but that doesn’t mean that it won’t happen. I think that we’re a class of people who are very clever and smart, and also a league of artists that were able to adapt to the internet and become successful off of that. I don’t come from anything, but the internet has given me my whole entire life, and I’m not the only person that feels that way. I think that we are completely undermined, but if you’re tapped in, the work is there, and it’s good.
As someone who lives in sync with the internet, do you find that it’s changed a lot in the past few years? Has it been hard to keep adapting?
I grew up alongside the internet, started using the internet at age eight, the internet and I were both in our infancy, and then we went through puberty together. When I reached maturity and became a person who was open to the world, the internet started belonging to everybody else. And I think that’s just really beautiful and also tragic because the internet used to be something that stayed at home, as did I when I was a kid. And now the internet’s in everybody’s pocket. It’s in the hands of people that it honestly shouldn’t be. And it’s fascinating to watch both of us kind of reach maturity. We’re not there yet. I don’t love where the internet is right now. I have a lot of points of frustration with it. It’s not the thing I hoped it to be. And I’m sure the internet could say the same about me, but we’re not done cooking. I’m not at my final destination, and neither is the net.
