Death of SMS: Pocket / Disconnect, 2026
Acrylic sheets, LED lights, wood, paper
3 Part: 190 cm x 250 cm x 90 cm
Artist’s Statement
POPTXT Reconceptualised
The POPTXT exhibition (2017) fulfilled the requisite for my Masters exhibition and investigated the phenomenon of text messaging as a postmodern human sign and symbol of computer mediated communication. Socio-linguistic theory, semiotics, philosophy and the psychology of identity are research streams that feed into the conceptual expression of text messaging in visual art.
My ongoing investigation in 2025 further proposed that the accumulation of our daily phatic text messages has morphed according to advances in devices and applications. These disposable ‘micro-communications’ become the residues that reflect a world mediated by screens. The work, Death of SMS: Pocket 160/160 was reconceptualised in 2025 by an addition of LED lights and a wooden frame. It becomes an ode to the vintage messaging scheme of the SMS. Using a limited digital palette: the QWERTY keypad was the medium for the creation of a digital poem. I took a clinical look at the coding structure of a 7-bit scheme SMS & created a static visual grid consisting of 160 text character boxes (the size of a standard SMS).
The reconceptualised piece emphasises the idea of a screen or ‘light’ painting. As a tactile contrast three large ‘paper plane’ motifs were added in 2026 as a floor installation. These are ghosts of more analogue systems but also represent the ‘SEND >’ symbol underpinned by affordance theory which is key to my visual research. This mix of materials re-presents the concept of text messaging as an artefact of a new human historiography, constantly morphing and mutating our ideas and how we connect with others.
