RYAT        ˈrī-ət        

SICK SPEECH 
Lecture performance at the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity
2019

Photos courtesy of the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity
Photography by Jessica Wittman

SICK SPEECH is an installation, film and lecture performance examining the influence of social media and biased algorithms on mental health and mass violence. Taking up the posthumous position of Nasim Aghdam, former social media star later known as the YouTube shooter, I examine how YouTube’s biased algorithm impacted Aghdam and the greater YouTube community and the correlation between mass violence, isolation and the desire for fame. Oscillating between news media reporting, my own text, found imagery and staged photos, I reframe her story within the context of immigration trauma and misogyny, applying a feminist perspective to societal reactions towards her and her actions.


Upcoming | Current
Tactics of Erasure at ReflectSpace, Glendale

Recent Exhibitions
Collision Practice at Human Resources and the LGBT Center

growth lies, pack of truth at Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles  Opening October 1st - January 8th

Spillover, 
Durden and Ray at the Bendix building, Los Angeles

It’s kind of a scary feeling, LAXART for X-TRA Summer Launch Party



Contact: ryat.yezbick [at] gmail.com


Photography: Hagen Betzwieser, Keelan O’Hehir, Jessica Wittman, Panayiotis Tsangas, Cedric Tai, Eleni Maligoura, Zach Korol-Gold, Gabriel Sweet


Copyright @2022 Ryat Yezbick. All rights reserved.