Chanel Conklin

"Untitled" Digital Collage, dimensions variable, 2023. ID: An image of the cast of Dragon Ball Z with superimposed text that reads "we are dragon ball z kai". Each character's face has been replaced by a photo of someone in the artists life, namely, herself, Elbow Room studio staff, and her mother.

"Untitled" Digital Collage, dimensions variable, 2023. ID: A photo tinted a yellowish green hue identified via text below as "Arnold Schwarzenegger Governor of California". The artist has added sinister black googles with bright red lenses to his face. At the top of the image the words "July 30 1947" are emblazoned in large green letters. Beside his head, a cutout of a pink birthday cake adorned with lit gold candles spelling out the phrase "happy birthday"

"Untitled", collage on paper, marker. ID: A black and white image of the world trade center sourced from documentation of a 1980 performance by artists Eiko and Koma at the site. Two images pulled from multiple copies of the source image are collaged side by side on a cream background. Handwritten text fills the right half of the paper, reading "We will never forget 911 Love Chanel"

bio

Chanel Conklin was born in California in 1986 and grew up in Oregon. Chanel has a deep interest in pop-culture and current events, which she merges with images from her personal life, altering and distorting them through the use of digital collage, sculpture, and video. In her work, figures from current events, horror movies, pop music, the new testament, and her own life are recast in an epic and surreal struggle between the forces good and evil. Chanel is a participant of Elbow Room, a Portland progressive studio that supports artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

See more of Chanel’s prolific digital collage work on her instagram.

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