The Crowd
Process
The Crowd by Sara Huang
18 X 30
This piece critiques the tendency of people not thinking critically about the information they receive and blindly following the crowd. This issue is especially magnified on the internet where information are more fragmented and easily accessed. As the news, posts, articles we see everyday are often intentionally tailored by authorities and institutions, blindly believing in them without thinking critically and independently can lead to serious consequences.
As one of the younger generation who spends a lot of my time online, I found that this issue can lead to mob justice and cyberbullying. In many cases, it caused people to be jobless, homeless and can even lead to suicides. In 2016, The director of an animal shelter in China ended her life after she received heavy criticism online for having to put dogs to sleep at work. In fact, she helped thousands of dogs in her lifetime, and the news was exaggerated by people who were stopped by her for adopting and reselling the dogs. The public believed in the false information without taking the time to learn the truth, and simply followed the crowd criticizing and attacking her. Although it may be human nature to be influenced by the majority, the harm caused by blindly following others can not be undone.
In this piece, the sheep herd is used as a metaphor for the people who blindly follow the crowd—— they eventually followed each other jumping down the cliff. The sheep that just joined the crowd possess human elements like the tie, scarf and earrings, but they slowly loses their individuality and ability to think on their own as they continues to follow the crowd. The sheep consist of no eyes as a symbol of their blindness. In the right corner, three identical men stands on the ladder extruding from the darkness, holding paint brushes. In fact, the scenery behind the sheep is painted by man; what they see are all made up. As they jump down the cliff into the darkness, they realize the truth, but it is too late.
