In a thoroughly modernized, constantly updating society, where can
true connection be found?
The bodies of citizens and the infrastructure surrounding them is
constantly updating. People can't recognize themselves in old pictures,
and they wake up in apartments of completely different sizes and shapes.
Commuter routes radically differ day to day. The citizens struggle with
adaptability as updates happen too quickly, and the changes are far too
radical to be intuitive. There is no way to resist--the updates are
enacted by a nameless, faceless force.
The narrator of Familiar Face works in the government's department of
complaints, reading through citizens' reports of the issues they've had
with the system updates. The job isn't to fix anything but rather to be
the sole human sounding board, a comfort in a system so decidedly
impersonal. These complaints aren't mere bug reports--they can be
anything: existential, petty, just plain heartbreaking.
Michael DeForge's ability to find the humanity and emotional truth
within the outlandish bureaucracy of everyday life is unparalleled. The
signatures of his work--a vibrant color palette, surreal designs, and a
self-aware sense of humor--enliven an often bleak technocratic future.
Familiar Face is a masterful and deeply funny exploration of how we
define our sense of self, and how we cope when so much of life is out of
our control.
