Weight of the World

Weight of the World

“Weight of the World” is a series of collages that mirrors the current state of our world, addressing the existential threat of climate change, war, partisanship, our disconnection with nature and our god-like delusions.

Each collage, built upon 1903 and 1870 ledgers, employs intricately cut paper from a multitude of sources and time periods to create surreal scenes. The placement of each element is carefully considered in terms of compositional balance and response to the existing marks upon the page.

The ledgers serve as a historical record of the mundane, such as food purchases and inventories. By working with these ledgers, I am collaborating with people of the past and building another layer of human history, while pondering how we arrived at this point. I painted several of the larger ledgers, creating context for the collages, much like a diorama one might see in a natural history museum.

The hands reference action, discord, and protection, while the feet refer to movement. Other characters include a simultaneously protective and vengeful mother Earth, her children, and birds asking us to consider their plight.