Gimme Hand + Burden
Gimme Hand, Terracotta Maquette
Artist’s Statement
This artwork is part of my interest in the effects of consumerism on our bodies and our minds. Shopping, collecting, saving, hoarding and the attendant activities of organizing, cleaning, filing, sorting, recycling and purging occupy large swaths of time and energy. What are the effects on our mental health of this continuous cycle?
Our relationship to materialism is complicated. Our strong desire for things, whether they serve a functional purpose or primarily an aesthetic one, is undeniable. At the same time we are conscious of the moral obligation to pursue a path towards more economically, socially and environmentally sustainable living. How are we coping with the continuous cycle of consuming and purging, desire and repulsion, mania and depression? How are these behaviours manifested in the body?
My sculptures here include bodies that have literally been transfigured by the burden of material goods. One figure is stooped and weighed down by stuff that serves no useful purpose. Another blithely walks along seemingly oblivious to her physical deformities, manifestations of excess materialism.
The collages are pieced together with shapes cut from magazines. Many of these figures feature an outstretched limb, what I’ve dubbed the gimme hand, which continues to grab and consume without reflection of what is being acquired and what purpose might it serve.