“Recycling your water bottles is all fine and good, but your trash is nothing compared with industries’ mountain of garbage.” ~Joel Makower
When I first viewed this image, the color, alignment, and emptiness of the metal rusty barrels lured me to pause, discover, and reflect on the artist’s message in varying associative contexts. I contemplated water bottle production, distribution, and its isolated impact. My thoughts gravitated toward small recycled water bottles as small efforts with minimal global effect, even though derived from positive intent. I viewed these large empty industrial containers as organized symbols of the ignorance and detached greed they cumulatively represent. Individual efforts toward environmental sustainability, in all their authenticity, seem meaningless unless an industrial transformation is embraced. We must evolve from empty corporate propaganda, false efforts, and inaction; we must propel toward responsible, preemptive, and collaborative change at broader levels. I chose to fill these corroded barrels with diverse people, water, and landscapes, as well as recycle the letters/message, as a reminder of the immediate need to move beyond "empty" toward true sustainability and appreciation.
Original image: Chris Jordan, Mother Jones, May/June 2009, p. 60
-Midge
When I first viewed this image, the color, alignment, and emptiness of the metal rusty barrels lured me to pause, discover, and reflect on the artist’s message in varying associative contexts. I contemplated water bottle production, distribution, and its isolated impact. My thoughts gravitated toward small recycled water bottles as small efforts with minimal global effect, even though derived from positive intent. I viewed these large empty industrial containers as organized symbols of the ignorance and detached greed they cumulatively represent. Individual efforts toward environmental sustainability, in all their authenticity, seem meaningless unless an industrial transformation is embraced. We must evolve from empty corporate propaganda, false efforts, and inaction; we must propel toward responsible, preemptive, and collaborative change at broader levels. I chose to fill these corroded barrels with diverse people, water, and landscapes, as well as recycle the letters/message, as a reminder of the immediate need to move beyond "empty" toward true sustainability and appreciation.
Original image: Chris Jordan, Mother Jones, May/June 2009, p. 60
-Midge
