Synopsis:

In a thoroughly modernized, constantly updating society, where can true connection be found? The bodies of citizens and the infrastructure surrounding them is constantly updating. People cant recognize themselves in old pictures, and they wake up in apartments of completely different sizes and shapes. Commuter routes radically differ day to day. The citizens struggle with adaptability as updates happen too quickly, and the changes are far too radical to be intuitive. There is no way to resistthe updates are enacted by a nameless, faceless force. The narrator of Familiar Face works in the governments department of complaints, reading through citizens reports of the issues theyve had with the system updates. The job isnt to fix anything but rather to be the sole human sounding board, a comfort in a system so decidedly impersonal. These complaints arent mere bug reportsthey can be anything: existential, petty, just plain heartbreaking. Michael DeForges ability to find the humanity and emotional truth within the outlandish bureaucracy of everyday life is unparalleled. The signatures of his worka vibrant color palette, surreal designs, and a self-aware sense of humorenliven an often bleak technocratic future. Familiar Face is a masterful and deeply funny exploration of how we define our sense of self, and how we cope when so much of life is out of our control.

Artists & Writers:
(W/A/CA) Michael DeForge