What is Money, tho? investigates money not as an object, but as an idea. It is a belief system and a collective agreement, sustained less by material substance than by shared perception. At its core, money derives meaning only through the value we assign to it.

This body of work approaches that premise by reducing currency to its most elementary conditions. Everyday objects such as buttons, earrings, paper clips, coffee beans, cranberries, and oats are presented as potential stand-ins for money. Each item is ordinary and widely accessible, yet each is capable of holding value when placed within a system of exchange. The work operates from the position that worth is not inherent, but conferred.

Personal economies often reveal this most clearly. Preferences, needs, and priorities determine what is considered valuable in any given moment. These subjective valuations expose the instability of money as a universal measure and underscore its dependence on context, desire, and belief rather than material form.

Visually, the objects are photographed using the conventions of stock imagery, a language closely associated with commerce, utility, and transactional use. They are then digitally processed into an 8 bit aesthetic that strips away realism and detail. This reduction emphasizes structure over surface and function over representation. The tension between the polished neutrality of stock photography and the crude simplicity of pixelation mirrors the abstraction at the heart of money itself. Both are systems that translate tangible things into symbolic exchange.

By presenting familiar objects as currency, this collection invites viewers to reconsider their own assumptions about value, necessity, and exchange. If history demonstrates that virtually anything can function as money, the work ultimately asks a more fundamental question. What, then, do we choose to value.