Film
Artist’s Statement
This film was informed by my experience as a trans woman living in the States in the first four months of Trump’s second term. I was overwhelmed by feelings of doom, wondering whether it’d even be safe to live here over the next four years. Trying to find any kind of answer meant scrolling through vertical video meme gunk, news of other unspeakable horrors, trending topic chatter, AI slop, and liberals dunking on fascists for their hypocrisy. It all felt totally hopeless, and I felt keenly aware of the fact that most people are just as afraid as me. Most people are struggling, desperately trying to eke out a comfortable life here in the richest country on Earth.
This would all be easier to come to terms with if the aesthetics of this era weren’t so humiliatingly moronic and blunt. Nothing is subtextual anymore: our temporary shadow president hit the Sieg Heil and the head of Health and Human Services swims in poop water. Reels of AI voiceovers summarizing Simpsons episodes do crazy numbers. Everything is gambling or nicotine or a subscription service you’ll forget to cancel, the computer thinks for you, and every summer is the hottest on record. In internet parlance, we’re “cooked.”
It seems the only people who’re killing it in this economy are the people with weird bullshit side hustles. We hear a lot about the people who succeed at that, but what about those who don’t? What if someone reimagined Gatorade as an RFK-style health food and no one wanted it? Or what if someone did? What would that person be like? That person would be so much worse.
Carter Amelia Davis is an independent filmmaker, writer, and visual artist based in Minneapolis. She’s developed a cult following for her funny and unsettling animations, which often explore social commentary through dream logic narratives. She works primarily in mixed media and photo collage, and has a particular interest in how it feels to be online. Her visual style is self-taught and the result of many happy accidents. Her work should ideally make you laugh and feel like you need to take a shower or something.