Why You Can’t See This Headline

DO YOU HAVE MORE THAN ONE application open right now? Is your phone buzzing on your desk and your email dinging? There’s been a lot of discussion about how electronic media is rewiring our brains, and how this affects our ability to thick critically and creatively.

What does this splintered state of mind mean for us when we need to tackle the “big issues,” like poverty, jobs, democracy, and human rights?

Artist Pamela Vander Zwan‘s “Shedding Light” explores how we consume and understand the words and texts that define our political structure. In Zwan’s photos, everyone is blindfolded. Were the blindfolds put there by themselves, or by someone else?

There’s no evidence in the pictures that anyone is held against her will or “oppressed.” Presumably you could just reach around and remove the blindfold.

So will we remove our blindfolds? How does sight equal awareness, and how does awareness lead to social change?