“BEWARE THE JUICEPEOPLE”

BEWARE THE JUICEPEOPLE is a collection which comes from the 20th century ideology of “culture cannibalism” as applied to a realm of contemporary American subculture. First introduced in 1929 by Brazilian poet Oswald de Andrade, the essay Manifesto Antropofago defines cultural cannibalism as a culture consuming itself, neither fully embracing nor denying both its internal and external influences as a means of developing a true sense of cultural distinction and autonomy. Taking the ideology outside of its post-colonial context and applying it to 2000s Italian-Americana, I thought about the distinction between the mythology and actuality within this commonly exaggerated phenomenon, one that still aesthetically defines my own place of origin. I began by acknowledging the myths, made known through popular media (mafiosos, guidos, housewives, and trashy party girls) and then delved into my actuality of New Jersey through a nostalgic lens, the common tradition of going “down the shore” and my connection to the ocean that was developed there. Furthermore upon reading tales of mythologies at sea, of sirens and sailors, I was exposed to stories of cannibalism in a literal sense, man-eating mermaids and starving shipwrecked whalers, which lead to further development into the textural relationship between skin and water.