Original Artwork | Acrylic on Canvas Board | 12" × 16"
She looks directly at us, confident, composed, and certain. But look a little closer. The headphones aren't plugged in.
Hear No Evil reimagines the familiar proverb through the modern phenomenon of confirmation bias and the information bubbles we build around ourselves. Bright headphones cover the woman's ears while their disconnected cord wraps around her neck like jewelry. She appears to be listening, but nothing from the outside world is actually getting through.
Her direct gaze is deliberately defiant. She projects the confidence of someone certain of what she knows, while the unplugged headphones suggest that certainty may exist within a closed system. The cord becomes both an accessory and a subtle restraint, symbolizing how the information bubbles that make us feel secure can also hold us back.
The painting is one of three works in A.LaB's See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil series, which reimagines the ancient proverb for modern life. Across the series, three women confront different forms of disengagement: escaping reality through technology, becoming trapped within an information bubble, and losing the ability to speak.
In Hear No Evil, the choice not to listen is disguised as listening itself. The work asks how much of what we believe comes from engaging with the world around us, and how much comes from surrounding ourselves with voices that simply tell us what we already want to hear.
Original Artwork | Acrylic on Canvas Board | 12" × 16"
She looks directly at us, confident, composed, and certain. But look a little closer. The headphones aren't plugged in.
Hear No Evil reimagines the familiar proverb through the modern phenomenon of confirmation bias and the information bubbles we build around ourselves. Bright headphones cover the woman's ears while their disconnected cord wraps around her neck like jewelry. She appears to be listening, but nothing from the outside world is actually getting through.
Her direct gaze is deliberately defiant. She projects the confidence of someone certain of what she knows, while the unplugged headphones suggest that certainty may exist within a closed system. The cord becomes both an accessory and a subtle restraint, symbolizing how the information bubbles that make us feel secure can also hold us back.
The painting is one of three works in A.LaB's See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil series, which reimagines the ancient proverb for modern life. Across the series, three women confront different forms of disengagement: escaping reality through technology, becoming trapped within an information bubble, and losing the ability to speak.
In Hear No Evil, the choice not to listen is disguised as listening itself. The work asks how much of what we believe comes from engaging with the world around us, and how much comes from surrounding ourselves with voices that simply tell us what we already want to hear.
