BELLA CARDIM

Stockholm Syndrome is a digital diptych conceived for wheatpasting. Using the visual language of street posters, collage, and advertising overload, the work examines two systems of contemporary capture.

 

In one poster, fast food and consumer logos surround the phrase, “I have your health if you ever want to see it again.” In the other, social media platforms frame the statement, “I have your self-esteem.” Together, they point to the ways food culture and digital culture compete for the body, attention, desire, and self-perception.

The logic of hostage-taking becomes a metaphor for the power these systems exert over everyday life. What is held captive is not only the body, but also health, self-worth, and the ability to perceive oneself outside the structures that seek to shape us.

 

Conceived for wheatpasting, the work brings these tensions into the street, occupying public space with a visual language borrowed from advertising itself. Stockholm Syndrome reflects on how the systems that promise pleasure, belonging, and connection can also become the very systems we grow attached to, even as they try to control us.