The Naked Truth takes place at a hotel in the rural Ozark region of the United States. In the Depression era 1930s, a former magician and AM radio personality turned the hotel into an illusion of a hospital, where patients came to seek his fraudulent cancer treatment. The artists utilize the actual hospital location and archival materials destabilized by overt digital manipulation and fictive performance, creating an environment where truth and lie are as intermingled as the “hospital” itself.
This project explores the manipulative practice of a conman, whose exploits mirror those common in the world today in the increasingly blurred areas of medicine, politics, and cult of celebrity. In considering the trauma of the past, we hope to better understand this moment, where humanity struggles with an increasingly divided sense of reality and where certain individuals harness disinformation for personal benefit.
For more of Antone Dolezal’s work, visit: www.antonedolezal.com