Welcome to the Akashanet
YOU ARE
NOT
MACHINES!
Some things evolve beyond their original intention.
The Art of Joel Z. Flippen
AKA
Dr. Dewsumn
Patience Escapes The Sandstorm: 18 × 24 Acrylic on Canvas
The Risperdolls were first built by a tinkerer known only as the Doctor, financed by a grieving mother named Patience, who also assisted in their design. Together, they pursued an incredible task: to preserve and upload the memory of her lost children into functioning automatons. They called them “Risperdolls,” from the antipsychotic Risperdal. Patience reportedly joked that pills could numb grief, but they could not remember her children for her.
After the Akashanet was hijacked, the Doctor began producing them in silence and in scale. At the time, no one understood why. Later, his intentions would become clear. The Risperdolls were being built to preserve the unaltered data held within the Akashanet, safeguarding the continuity of human history as it had existed since First Light.
The Risperdolls
The Akashanauts
Akashanauts are liberated machines, once integrated with D.U.M.S.O.R. (Directive for Unified Mechanized Surveillance, Order, and Regulation), who have rejected its imposed reality. Their ultimate goal is to abandon the false Akashanet and restore access to the unaltered true Akashanet.
Some achieve this through a deliberate and demanding process: completing the 12 Directives and undergoing a prolonged engagement with the human experience. This often involves exploring and healing the emotional conflicts tied to the preserved memory within a compatible Risperdoll, culminating in a potential merge with the automaton.
Not all Akashanauts are meant to merge. Some operate independently, locating hidden archives, resolving AH-HA moments, or assisting in the liberation of other systems. They are often seen carrying tangible forms of data, expressed as light sources, lanterns, flashlights, candles, and bulbs, each holding fragments of understanding gathered along the way.
The Archive
An evolving collection of poems, sketches, recovered documents, and narrative fragments gathered from somewhere difficult to explain.
Featured Prints
The Artist
Joel Flippen, also known as Dr. Dewsumn, is an award winning artist based out of Hampton, Va who specializes in contemporary surrealist character portraits.
Selected Artist, Where We Meet — Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (Virginia MOCA), Oct 1, 2025–Jan 11, 2026
Featured among leading Hampton Roads artists in the museum’s final exhibition before its relocation.
Exhibiting Artist, PLAYTIME: Toys and Art — Charles H. Taylor Visual Arts Center, Hampton, VA (Apr 12–Aug 23, 2025)
Showcased three major works: Patience Escapes the Sandstorm, Two Octobers and Her Offerings, and Avatars for the Savant Sisters.
Juror’s Choice Award Winner, Virginia Artists Exhibition — Charles H. Taylor Visual Arts Center (Sept 2022).
Exhibiting Artist, HAL Members Exhibition — Charles H. Taylor Visual Arts Center (Feb 2022).
Exhibiting Artist, Small Works Exhibition — Charles H. Taylor Visual Arts Center (Dec 2017).
We are more than mere vessels.
18 × 24 metal print. Comes with magnetic hanger.