Artist Statement

The Oakwood Apartments in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles reaches capacity January through April when over 300 child actors come from all over America for Pilot season auditions. They rent furnished apartments with a parent who shares their dreams of grandeur. The apartment complex is the only one in Los Angeles to specifically cater to child actors with programs, activities and tutors for kids. Hillary Duff, Christina Ricci, and Frankie Muniz are some of the stars that stayed at Oakwood when they first arrived in Hollywood.

The Oakwood represents a unique amalgamation of a peculiar moment in the American zeitgeist and timeless human characteristics.  Where parents have long competed through the achievements of their children, fame is the yardstick that has come to replace academic or athletic achievement.  Their children, having grown up surrounded by mass media in a more extreme manner than previous generations, with thousands of television channels and expansive niche marketing, dream of fame as the ultimate marker of success.  For these families, fame is the new American Dream.  Young residents of the Oakwood sacrifice a typical American childhood for endless acting, dancing, and singing lessons, workshops where they learn to cry on command, rounds of auditions, and the ups and downs of being constantly judged.  These children consciously manipulate their self-presentation- no longer content to just be kids, or just be themselves, they model themselves after what they’ve been taught “works” for a particular role or moment.  My images intend to reflect this identity crisis.