Molly Dario - Hollywood Fwy 101 headed North

Artist: Molly Dario
Title: Hollywood Fwy 101 headed North

For some, California is a place that is hopeful and glamorous, it's a much more complicated place for me. Growing up in the Inland Empire, I rode the bus home, there was a boy who rode it alongside me, he was from the apartments you never wanted to find yourself near after dark. One day he wasn't on the bus and then another day and then another. When he finally appeared back, his hand was bandaged. I asked him what happened, he said his father and him got into another big fight, so he drenched his hand in his dad's girlfriend's hairspray, and torched his own hand on fire. 

He said it felt amazing. At eleven years old, the idea of desiring pain completely eluded me. The idea knocked the wind out of me. In that instant, I became starkly aware of the illnesses that penetrated life. I grew up very quickly at that moment. It's not clear whatever happened to that boy, I hope he found a better way to cope. I made this video for him to say that although it may seem like pain is the only option, if you can hang tight, the light of hope is just a small way down the road. 

Molly Dario is a visual artist who resides in New York City. Her work comprises a digital landscape that resembles a theatrical, virtual, surrealistic, and hyper-realistic world. It serves as an experimental playground and a make-believe universe to play-in. She amalgamates various art forms, such as storytelling, performance art, set design, video editing, and VFX, into one. The worlds she creates aim to explore existential understanding, abstract thought, and provoke the absurd. Her artwork is suitable for anyone looking for a stretch to the brain, and perhaps a comfort in human ambiguities.

www.mollydario.space