This series features people exchanging money, clutching bills, and engaging in transactions that reflect how capitalism permeates our identities, relationships, and sense of self-worth, reducing them to mere economic exchanges.
Partially set in Times Square—an emblem of consumerism and capitalist excess—the series juxtaposes bright, flashy advertisements with the often grim reality of those hustling for a living. Street hustlers, scammers, and tourists converge, highlighting the predatory nature of a system where survival often blurs with exploitation. The imagery of Times Square amplifies the project’s central theme, symbolizing the omnipresence of capitalism in both public and private spaces. In this context, Times Square becomes a modern-day marketplace of shadows, where the collective unconscious is shaped by desires, fears, and illusions projected by the capitalist system.
The series extends beyond Times Square to include 5th Avenue and 8th Avenue, two locations that starkly contrast the different faces of capitalism. On 5th Avenue, a symbol of wealth and status, the pursuit of luxury and materialism is laid bare, as money becomes a marker of social hierarchy. Here, the imagery captures rich individuals adorned in fur coats and those who have undergone extensive plastic surgery—emblems of a society where appearances are currency, and self-worth is measured by the ability to project an image of success. In contrast, 8th Avenue presents a grittier reality, where the hustle is rougher, and the struggle to survive is more visible. The transition from 5th Avenue to 8th Avenue underscores the duality of capitalism’s promises and pitfalls, revealing how status and survival intertwine in a system that exploits both.
Drawing on Jungian concepts, the project critiques how capitalism distorts archetypal roles and relationships, turning the Caregiver into the Transactional, the Lover into the Consumer, and the Everyman into the Exploited. The relentless pursuit of profit strips away authenticity, reducing human connections to financial transactions, while the Shadow archetype emerges as the hidden force driving this economic system, masking the true costs of capitalist ambition. The title, "Capitalism Stole My Virginity," evokes a loss of innocence and the corruption of the Self, as economic forces erode purity, agency, and integrity, leaving behind a hollow, transactional void.
Status, another key element manipulated by capitalism, is omnipresent in this series. The imagery captures how money becomes a symbol of worth and a tool for asserting social hierarchy, with fur-clad elites and surgically-altered faces serving as stark reminders of capitalism's obsession with image and status. The pursuit of status through wealth further complicates relationships and distorts the collective unconscious, driving individuals to conform to societal expectations at the expense of their true selves. The series highlights how capitalism not only commodifies interactions but also reinforces status-based distinctions, deepening the divide between the wealthy elite and those struggling on the margins.
Rooted in critical theory and infused with Jungian analysis, "Capitalism Stole My Virginity" confronts the psychological and social costs of a world driven by profit. By focusing on both the iconic and the everyday, this photographic sequence serves as a visual reminder of how capitalism infiltrates human experiences, transforming them into mere commodities in a never-ending pursuit of monetary gain. The series also invites viewers to consider how the capitalist system manipulates the collective unconscious, shaping desires, fears, status, and identities in ways that perpetuate the cycle of exploitation and loss.
