"As the world turns to dust, as fire and floods take turns quenching and smoldering the earth of what we made of it, the phrase “Live Laugh Love” will be one to fill the landfills, will be the phrase tattooed on the arms reaching for heaven" - Maya Martinez
NSFW presents "Dark Cheugy " by American artists Zody Burke and Freena Kirppu. The exhibition explores themes surrounding the aftermath of adolescent girlhood, using cringe culture as a lens to investigate how identity is constructed in a media-saturated landscape.
"Dark Cheugy" attempts a recontextualization of “cheuginess”—an aesthetic or sensibility perceived as outdated or unfashionable and associated with pastoral naivety. Often tied to generational divides and shifting cultural values, "cheugy" reflects social anxieties about authenticity and the negotiation of belonging. The exhibition delves deeper into the darker, more poignant implications of this term, examining how these judgments intersect with the complexities of girlhood and the emotional weight of growing up under the watchful eyes of media and peers
"Dark Cheugy" is complemented by a text by poet and artist Maya Martinez. Originally from Florida, she now lives and works in New York City. Her publications include "Hole Play" and "Hell or Mercy".
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Zody Burke (b.1991, Manhattan) is an American multimedia artist and musician who is currently living and working in Tallinn, Estonia. She creates cyphers through sculpture and sound through which to cartograph the complexity of American identity within late capitalism, explore parallel inherited cultural mythologies & their relationship to truth, and interface world-building with geological time.
Freena Kirppu (USA), also known as FL Pig, or DJ Pi69Y, is an American multidisciplinary artist and professional hot girl. A hater of the world and lover of the Earth. “I only want to sit on a pile of trash on the train track. I do not want to write about my art. Gotta go I am listening to Eminem. Have a beautiful day.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Maya Martinez. Originally from Florida, she now lives and works in New York City. Her publications include “Hole Play” and “Hell or Mercy”.