Traveler 2020: A Dystopian Dream is a critical love letter to the mediocre B-Movies of years long past. In the same vein as my earlier work on the Revised and Remade diptych and heavily inspired by the faux film roles of Cindy Sherman and Yasumasa Morimura, this project explores popular culture, representation and identity. More specifically, placing myself, an Afro Latino Black man in the role of a low tier action hero in the 1980’s; a time when white machismo was the pinnacle of masculinity. In a tongue in cheek approach to depicting the bravado and grit of the medium, I began to realize just how ridiculous and humorous many of the traits of this man are. The “Lone Wolf” role is certain impressive on the surface. We marvel at the hero’s competence and memorable one liners, but at the heart of many of the roles I modeled this one off of, is a lot of loneliness and pain compensated for by guns and glory. For me looking back from 2020, the depiction of masculinity holds up about as well as the special effects, yet still the iconography and to a lesser extent the ideals endure. Representation doesn’t matter nearly as much as making sure its good representation.
