I create assemblages constructed with any item that would ordinarily be thrown away. The sculptures are made with everyday garbage and whatever (art) materials I have. I find ways to bridge conventional material and my trash. Or, I may deconstruct an existing piece and repurpose it into another work of art.One day, while cleaning my kitchen I began to pay attention to the size of my trashcan. What occurred to me was how large it was for one person. The next day I swapped it out for a much smaller one. However, that did not satisfy my preoccupation with waste. I became consumed with what I threw away. Suddenly, I began saving things like: junk mail, bottles, cans, old clothes, painting rags, files, newspapers, packaging, etc. These (otherwise) discarded materials became part of my inner dialogue--a metaphor for how I view the world. Identity: race, gender, religion, inequity and consumption in a global climate filled with economic despair are all interrelated. Yet, my personhood defines my relationship with each one. Just as it defines the relationship I have with the items I use in my sculptures.

 


 































































SHANTY SHACK, 2009, wood, cans, wire, metal, nails, staples, 6' x 4' (installation view)

IDENTITY, FUNCTIONALITY,  PURPOSE, ENVIRONMENTAL  NEEDS VS. NECESSITY, ACTIVISM, PORTALS, SHEDS, GLOBALISM--have been permeating my thoughts. I once saw an independent film about an African woman struggling to make a life for herself and family after discovering she contracted HIV from her husband. She traveled a great distance to his workplace (in the mines) to inform him of her status. However, he wanted no parts of her—he was in complete denial. Eventually he returned home to their village with his health failing. She knew as the disease progressed they would be ostracized from the village. So she set out to construct a new home to take care of him as he lived out his final days. She gathered discarded materials: tin, wood, nails and scraps of all kind to build a shed on her own. When I thought about this project, I reflected on the film and growing up in Belize where in many cases living in sheds was a way of life. I wanted to honor the woman in the film and the countless others around the world that make choices to use discarded materials out of necessity.