2021 Senior Exhibition Artists

Noah Tavares

Art + Design: Photography

About Noah Tavares

Noah Tavares will be receiving his BFA in Photography from the College of Visual & Performing Arts Photography at UMass Dartmouth in 2021. In his practice, Noah aims to challenge the ways in which information can be conveyed through the photographic medium by employing a conceptual approach to his work. In incorporating aspects of art theory and history, Noah creates a complex experience, offering multiple levels of interpretation, engaging viewers as they explore a variety of non-linear narratives.

Statement

The Wanderer dissects media physically and digitally disseminated within the suburban town of Mattapoisett, Massachusetts. In bringing together imagery from social media, advertisements, and local publications I begin to parse through attitudes that the small 6500 resident town presents itself to the world. By curating the images from contrasting platforms, an air of self-regulation begins to take form, with the kitsch of a small American town taking precedence over serious dialogue. In glossing over topics with potential for skewing the town’s tidy image, Mattapoisett sculpts itself as a place more concerned with its outward perception than inward issues that beg attention. Through the positive reception of this sentiment by both accepting townsfolk and unassuming tourists, these values continue to be perpetuated. As a result, many legitimate concerns demonstrated by residents are promptly dismissed. From the narrow scope of the town’s weekly newspaper The Wanderer to highly regulated Facebook groups, Mattapoisett remains carefully maintained by lifetime locals, wealthy seasonal residents, and those who willingly preserve the town’s dated image. By carefully curating the following images and text appropriated from the town's self-reflexive media, fractured narratives begin to surface, conveying the disjointed nature of Mattapoisett’s socio-economic complexities.