Sandy Kim's exhibition PSYCHOCANDY at HVW8 Gallery examines Kim’s month-long psychosis as it informs her photographic gaze and awareness of the ever chaotic and fragile balance of her personal and professional life. Through this sometimes fragmented and distorted lens, we find moments of family life and friendship filed amongst glimpses of high profile celebrity fueled commercial shoots; blended together, this mixture begs the question of what is truly real life and what is an illusion.
As Kim detailed later about her experience: “Earlier this year I experienced a month-long psychosis. I decided that I didn’t want to take my Suboxone prescription anymore, that decision along with the extreme stress I carried, was a one way ticket to acute psychosis. It was your classic case of psychosis. You believe all the billboards and signs you see are meant for you. The music I listened to and all the movies I watched, had messages for me to decode. I had delusions that I was being followed by black tinted cars and drones. I was extremely paranoid and believed we lived in a simulation. The only way for me to leave the “set” and return to normal life, was by beating the game. And in order to beat the game I had to take photos and capture certain images that I believed were curated by the game. Psychocandy is an exhibit about the illusion social media can create. From the outside looking in you might think I have the ideal life, with the perfect job. But look a little harder and you’ll see that everything is just an illusion.”
