Shannon Wardroper

Doomscrolling, an antidote, 2021

Doomscrolling is the term now in the dictionary to describe our endless scrolling on our devices – often on negative news feeds and other addictive platforms, to the detriment of our mental health, especially among youth. The attention economy we are enmeshed in, takes advantage of our human “negativity bias” in our brains automatically focusing on negative events and news in order to subconsciously learn in order to keep safe when moving forward. 

This body of work talks about the need for balance - keeping the negative text in the background and instead focusing on nature and creativity (in my case). The flipped back format harkens to “reading” as in - old fashioned pages! It also could caused by “fresh air” or wind! 

The work was created during covid, in isolation and was inspired by the poem “The second coming” by Yeats written during the Spanish flu pandemic as well as the American writer Joan Didion who referenced him and added - “passing joy on our way to despair” – in fact - Doomscrolling. 

The uplifting poetry of Rumi is printed faintly amongst the Doomscrolling text on the back (where all negative words are in bold type) and carries onto the front where it becomes digitally embroidered. 

—

Shannon Wardroper, who currently resides and teaches on Salt Spring Island BC, Canada studied Textiles and Art history at Alberta College of Art, Calgary, and Emily Carr College of Art, Vancouver in addition to a Masters in Arts Education - Simon Fraser University. She lived, studied, taught and exhibited in Japan, Thailand and the U.K. for over a decade with sojourns throughout S.E. Asia for study and research. Her love of nature in abstracted botanical imagery culminated in repeat exhibits at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower show as well as the Museum of Garden History, London. Her Doomscrolling work on the tension between nature and technology was shown at the recent conference hosted by Tristan Harris and the Center for Humane Technology on "Technology for Social Cohesion" - San Francisco. 

During a Masters degree in Arts Education that began in Northern Thailand and ultimately finished here in Canada, Shannon pushed the envelope with her textiles to expand into the performative and three dimensional, as well as installation fiber work, set within the forest. Her textiles utilize motifs, materials, techniques, cultural references and storytelling from her time abroad to highlight and question current societal challenges most recently around the attention economy. 

Shannon teaches from her Salt Spring studio as well as time spent with Vancouver island University, Maiwa, Metchosin Summer School of the Arts, Vancouver Island school of Art as well as delivering immersive Textile workshops and lectures in Canada and abroad.