Mine Series
How fleeting and fragile is life…. As we evolve mankind has found numerous ways to destroy themselves and prolong themselves. This dichotomy has always intrigued me. Create…. Destroy…. Try to fix or mend what we have broken. I find myself between these two worlds quite often. I come from a generation of young males inundated with the hyper-masculine action hero, if it hurts you kill it mentality. In contrast I was raised by a nurse and was taught how to help, heal and create. This duality is the root of my work.
This current series started after reading about the Cambodian killing fields. Which lead me to my findings about the remnants of what nearly twenty plus years of conflict has done to this country. While researching I found that Cambodia has close to 700 square miles of landmine contaminated land. This roughly equals out to a city the size of London! I find the most passive aggressive way we have found to destroy is with landmines or bombs. These are weapons that are hidden from sight and disable, cripple, or kill. Can you imagine the fear a person would have from just walking around?
I wanted to recreate the mines to scale so one could see their true size. Each mine is made of earthenware to remind the viewer of where they hide. All the mines are functional vessels of some sort. Resting or connected to each mine is a small bowl. Each bowl could rest easily in a viewer’s hand. These bowls are meant to reflect the preciousness and fragility of life.
