NADINE BOUGHTON

The Pleasures of Modern Living

This series looks at the luxuries and “pleasures” of American life, post WWII. Prosperity reigned, material consumption exploded, leisure time grew. Advertising portrayed us as “good” and “happy.”

The collages piece together images from vintage materials, weaving fragments of memory into new narratives. My intention is to blend the nostalgia for the past with the darkness beneath “the pleasures of modern living,” and ask how this relates to the present.

My interest is in the illusion of security; food as an object of desire and comfort, the portrayal of women and domestic culture; and the grip of materiality.