Phil Garber

Lives and works in New York City, NY, USA

Artist statement

My practice looks at the hyper-rapid choices involved in vocal communication and the weight of choices in written communication. Why a word is used, and a deeper unpacking of that “why”. I create arcade games, traditional video works, and pieces generally classifiable as installation. My practice is rooted in the fact that I am a person who stutters. Stuttering is a neurological condition affecting speech production. Outwardly consisting of vocal blocks and repetitions, the more profound effect on the stutterer is one of social ostracization. My disability gives me distance from ordinary vocal communication, and a consideration of communication overall. I also observe anxiety both as a diagnosable condition, and a mental, and societal state. Anxiety is both pervasive and normalized in western society, whether designed or as a consequence of systems. Systems as a whole are explored in all facets of my work, stemming from my initial training as a photographer. I do not prescribe an intellectual-endpoint in my work; I don’t tell my viewer what to think. My work gives an alternate way of thinking, to observe core-issues (not truths) commonly disguised by sheer banality. I am a disabled person, and my current manifestation of stuttering is disabling. I acknowledge my place in the greater disabled community without attempting to speak for it. The works I create are highly designed and presented as completed pieces. They are often intensive to produce. The intentionality in my...

Artwork