The “Me” Decade

This digital composition layers halftone patterns, iridescent panels, and illustrated butterflies to examine 1970s individualism. The title references Tom Wolfe’s 1976 essay critiquing the decade’s shift toward self-actualization and therapy culture over collective action.

The kaleidoscopic background—pixelated textures suggesting mass media and consumer culture—contrasts with traditionally rendered butterflies that appear to navigate or escape the structured grid. This tension between organic freedom and synthetic confinement mirrors how personal identity was reshaped during an era when self-interest increasingly displaced social responsibility. The vibrant, almost hallucinatory palette evokes both countercultural remnants and the synthetic excess that followed, while the grid structure recalls how media saturation framed and commodified self-perception.

Essay written: November 2025