I stopped by the Sharon Arts Center today to see the exhibit “WASTE: Artist’s Speak Out on our Disposable Culture”. Wow…. amazing….. I’m so glad to see other artists here in NH examining the same issues that fascinate me.
While I was researching for my BFA consumerism project, I came across Chris Jordan’s photography and it intrigued me. He makes these enormous photographs of stuff we consume, often times large piles of discarded items in landfills. I got to see some of these photos today from his series “Intolerable Beauty, Portraits of American Mass Consumption”. I find it disgusting yet strangely beautiful. Very glad I had the opportunity to see his work in person, it’s just not the same looking at it online.
Tim Gadreau’s work was also on display. 5,000 photos of stuff he thew away. Reminds me of one of my original ideas of photographing everything I bought for x amount of time. Anyway, his mural is breathtaking. He talks about how he changed his habits after examining the photos shortly after beginning the project. After realzing all the waste in plastic bottles alone, he changed to more eco-friendly and sustainable options (ie tap water instead of bottled). It’s an eye opener to really begin to inspect consumerism on a personal level. I had a similar experience in photographing all the stuff I bought. Just taking that extra 5 seconds to take that photo made me stop and think, why did i buy this? what are the effects of my purchase? I also began to lose that thrill of shopping, and it became (and still is) nauseating to think about all these products I buy and how difficult it can be to break that habit.
There was an article in the Equinox this past week where the journalist interviewed a homeless man that has become semi-famous around campus because of his attire (or lack thereof). He lives in the woods and hasn’t had a job or made money in 11 years. This is so alluring to me, living disconnected from this world of spending and consuming.
So here ends my first blog entry.
Related links:
http://www.timgadreau.com
http://www.chrisjordan.com/
http://www.sharonarts.org/
