Contained,Consumed

I like things. Frivolous things. Practical things. Things I need and things I just want. Then I begin to feel oppressed by all the things I have bought or inherited or somehow acquired, even unintentionally - like Styrofoam containers and plastic mesh bags. So many products are shipped encased in these toxic creations that packing materials are as present in my life as the things I actively sought to own. Styrofoam, plastic, and cardboard can be molded into infinite types of protective shapes. I sometimes appreciate Styrofoam and mesh as objects in their own right. They have a kind of formal beauty and adaptability that I explore in my studio. I alter and assemble packing materials into photographs, sculptures, and installations. This is a small, maybe even false, gesture, but it feels encouraging to find a second use for packing materials. I can’t imagine that our descendants will have to dig too deeply beneath the top soil to find all the things we have left behind. Contained, Consumed looks at this cycle of need and desire and use and waste