Altered States
(digital art, perception, and consciousness)
Altered States is a work of digital art that has been shown in various forms. In a 2016 solo show, a 10×10 foot print hanging on the wall. In a 2015 group exhibition, it was suspended from the ceiling with the addition of audio and visual effects.
Consisting of colorful and complex spiraling fractals, this image was created by physically repeating, resizing, and moving around the structural formula of the powerfully psychoactive compound dimethyltryptamine (N,N-DMT). My interest in DMT lies within its thousands of years of use in shamanic rituals, but also the fact that it is found within many plants and animals, and even produced naturally by our own bodies. In using the chemical symbol for DMT to create the psychedelic imagery, I am linking the chemistry to its perceptual effects in which it creates.