Students at Twin Lakes Secondary School in Orillia are worried about how dependent student can be on technology.
The students had an assignment in their art class – to get kids talking, so they created a high 3D art installation called “Generation Isolation” to bring attention to the problem.
“We grew up with the internet,” said Grade 11 art student Jade Dawson. “We grew up with cell phones … it's to the point where we need it. We have to have it with us, and it shouldn't be that way.”
The students created 13 life-sized figures without faces that are completely focused on their technology.
“Everybody is by themselves, they're not touching each other,” said Grade 12 student Christina Heliotis. “They're not communicating. They're by themselves, looking at their devices.”
The figures don’t have faces to symbolize how people are losing their identity, and each figure is stuffed with garbage to symbolize “wasting” time on social media.
“By doing the piece, we're trying to help people, see the message & maybe start a conversation about the piece and see that they're talking to their friends instead of looking at their phone and talking about it,” said student Tao Orion.
“A lot of people have been taking selfies with the characters,” mentioned student Becca Shron. “Which is kind of funny to watch because that's the opposite of what we want to happen … but it kind of reiterates the message of everyone's on their phones too much.”
Their visual arts teacher Maggie Shaw said working on this installation brought the students together.
The installation will stay in the school for two weeks, and then will be moved to Orillia’s museum of
