Performance

As a “Truth Recruiter” I visited a classroom in the Bronx under the pretense of being a U.S. Army recruiter giving a presentation about life in the military. Instead, I spoke about the details of military enlistment that a recruiter would NOT discuss, such as the limitations of a “sliding contract” and the prevalence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, including the special implications of PTSD in women. I screened two video mashups, which I had created using U.S. Army propaganda and news stories that exposed problematic civil rights issues associated with military service. Then I revealed that I was not a recruiter, but a performer there to discuss concerns in an earnest way. I showed the news stories from the mashups in their entirety.

Mission Statement
Truth Recruit is an army of dreamers operating under the hacked brand of the U.S. Army, and working together to revise and appropriate military public image and recruitment campaigns. Through performance, motion graphics and video mashups, we discuss with young people what the U.S. Army actually represents beyond the romantic, professional advertising campaign manifested in video games, commercials, microsites, and print ads. The aim is to debunk any notion that young urban Americans have “limited options.”

“Messages from Veteran Affairs”

The video encapsulates my mission to illustrate the disparity between exciting recruitment propaganda and the traumatic reality of service as experienced by recruits. The performance itself challenges the basis of recruitment– that young, urban Americans have limited options– by demonstrating the accessibility of performance and media arts.