Exodus

“Exodus” is a satirical, pho-magazine inspired by the legacy of Exodus International, a once-influential, debunked Christian organization that promoted harmful 'conversion therapy' practices. Its proponents claimed that through their pseudoscientific methods, same-sex attracted (SSA) individuals could change their sexual orientation to be heterosexual, or become 'ex-gay'. At its peak it had over 250 affiliated ministries, but it closed in 2014 due to participants increasingly revealing that the ministry had little to no impact on their experience of sexuality. The 'magazine' is a collection of images and articles from their now-closed website, intermingled with my own words and media. This art piece represents a harrowing spiritual journey - or exodus - within this religious landscape and the lasting impact of such harmful practices which continue in the present day.

This piece reworks articles posted online from Exodus on their previous website, located using the Wayback Machine archive by the Internet Archive.

The viewer approaches the photo frame and is labeled automatically with a number. The installation takes a photo of them, which the viewer can then download by scanning a QR code and downloading the image.

Adobe Photoshop for editing images

Adobe Illustrator for creating and editing graphics

Adobe InDesign for composing the magazine

HeyZine Flipbooks to host the zine as an interactable widget

Created a mock-up of the front cover in Illustrator.

Used Photoshop to create the final cover

Conducted further research into the Exodus website and decided to make a full zine.

Edited articles to convey criticism, humor, and personal narrative.

Composed the magazine in InDesign.

Printed the magazine and digitized it with a scanner to simulate archiving

This zine is a cross between auto-ethnography, capturing my point of view on the subject, as well as speculative documentary, mixing factual archival content with fiction to foreground uncertainty and imagine an alternative present.