T-Meme: A Series of Unfortunate Events

Bryan Martinez, Angel Santa

Digital image series, 2020

T-MEME: A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS by Bryan Martinez and Angel Santa is a collection of digital photographs that explores the struggles of a T-shirt. The work understands the T-shirt’s umwelt or “sense world” to interpret the shirt’s sense of the world through a series of memes. Although memes serve to provide comedic relief, there are more serious implications being drawn through this work. Martinez and Santa are attempting to bridge feelings of empathy between their voiceless T-shirt and the viewers. There are feelings of pain, struggle, and neglect throughout their work as they document and present the emotions that the T-shirt encounters in its daily life activities.

The work intends for viewers to understand the relationship of human influence on the objects around us. In developing this empathy towards objects, perhaps humans can reciprocate that empathy towards one another and reach universal unity. However, if humans continue to unconsciously ignore how their behaviors influence the material world, then these voiceless objects, such as a T-shirt, will continue to suffer as a result.