Repair and Renewal: Making Things Whole Again
Blood-Water Pollution 2015 Constructed from recycled tin cans. 20" x 20" x 3" Photo Credit: Philip Cohen
Artists statement for Repair Renewal
The themes of “repair the world” are fundamental in all of my work. “Blood – Water Pollution” is portrayed as a modern version of the first biblical plague, blood. All of the materials for this sculpture are removed from a waste stream of our society and repurposed as a metaphorical artwork about our collective responsibility to heal the earth. Humans have caused pollution, but we can choose to prevent pollution and repair the environmental damage.
We have made strides in awareness and in cleaning up our rivers, oceans and underground water resources. Some pollution has been intentional, such as the chemical dumping revealed by consumer advocate Erin Brockovich, but most pollution is unintentional, such as the Flint, Michigan situation or agricultural pesticide runoff into rivers, or the huge plastic gyres in our oceans.
As a society, we need to maintain our vigilance and become even more aware of the ultimate consequences of our current consumption, waste and contaminants that can lead to detrimental environmental impact.
“Blood – Water Pollution” is part of a new series titled, “The 10 Modern Plagues” which interprets a range of global crises caused by current human activity as analogous to the ten biblical plagues.
Photo Credit: Philip Cohen
