In Feeding Time (Green), Mr Phantom places the vulnerability of new life beneath the imposing presence of a machine built to observe, transmit and control. The fledgling’s open beak transforms the green cable into a surrogate source of nourishment, blurring the distinction between biological need and technological dependency. Against the restrained monochrome composition, the green accent carries associations of growth and vitality, yet here it belongs to an artificial system rather than the natural world. The work considers how technology is introduced from an increasingly young age, becoming embedded in the way information, attention and experience are consumed. Through this uneasy substitution of parent for machine, Mr Phantom questions what is gained—and what may be displaced—when digital connection becomes a fundamental part of development.
