Effie's work in portraying the social media world in art is a fascinating (and a bit depressing) look behind the curtain of apps like instagram or facebook. I agree with Effie that the connections we make over the internet are significantly less meaningful than the ones we made years before the internet was popularized. The "cold touch" of someone who isn't really there creates a world where we want to keep reaching out and make connections while we ourselves aren’t really there either. What kind of world are we creating with everyone behind a screen? This is what Effie is trying to convey with their artistic apps. Moving away from the depressing/cold world of social media, Effie also has work portraying a feeling of disconnection from your body. They did this to help your average person understand the feeling a transgender or gender non-conforming person feels when they are transitioning. I found this piece a little controversial but also very necessary to understanding each other. I believe the main problem that separates certain groups of people from each other is the fact that we cannot walk in each other's shoes. This device allows a whole group of people to communicate how they feel all the time to the rest of the world; that break of the boundary that separates these groups is more powerful than just words, it's understanding.

 

Something I found very admirable about Effie is they didn't get caught in the "golden handcuffs" of big corporations. After a few years of questionably moral work passed down from the higher-ups, Effie was able to quit and not be apart of something they don't agree with. Being able to recognize that they didn't like the environment they were in is a skill we all could use, the bravery of going through with it is something completely different.