Land Marks
Land Marks, a photo-based assemblage series, does not look at well-known places or idealize the nature of cities. These works look at small areas on the street and sidewalk and their link to our industrial, oil-based lifestyle. Combining photographic documents of the street with objects - the things that are under the street's surface, part of the detritus of our infrastructure - I aim to create a space that inspires us to ponder our lifestyles and imagine other possibilities.
Using tarpaper, aka asphalt and bitumen, as the surface for the art is a choice to surround this work in oil, a resource whose use is a cause of the climate crisis. The found objects honor the items that are precious even in decay. The creative and destructive use of resources is an ongoing question.
A few days after participating in the People’s Climate March and Flood Wall St. in NYC, I was walking, head down, looking for Stikman*, a small, street-art stick figure, when I started seeing remains and marks of the city’s infrastructure. I discovered that these hieroglyphics communicate the locations of the underground world of utility pipes and wires to the people who build and repair our cities’ veins. I became focused on looking for infrastructure remains and marks that I usually don't see, and instead step on or drive over.
* http://www.thebluegrasssituation.com/read/searching-stikman-interview-elusive-artist
A few days after participating in the People’s Climate March and Flood Wall St. in NYC, I was walking, head down, looking for Stikman*, a small, street-art stick figure, when I started seeing remains and marks of the city’s infrastructure. I discovered that these hieroglyphics communicate the locations of the underground world of utility pipes and wires to the people who build and repair our cities’ veins. I became focused on looking for infrastructure remains and marks that I usually don't see, and instead step on or drive over.
* http://www.thebluegrasssituation.com/read/searching-stikman-interview-elusive-artist
