Diffusion

Diffusion

Porcelain, gold luster, gold leaf, found computer components, wire, video projection.
Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Cheltenham, PA, 2011; Arts Westchester, White Plains, NY, 2011 (eARTH Invitational).

Porcelain, gold luster, gold leaf, found computer components, wire, video projection.
Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Cheltenham, PA, 2011; Arts Westchester, White Plains, NY, 2011 (eARTH Invitational).

Right now, in developing countries across Ghana, rural China, and South Asia, children sift through our discarded iPods, computers, and e-waste — searching for small amounts of copper and gold among plastic, ceramic, and silicone. Women sit in clouds of chemicals, burning away plastics to recover what little value remains. The risks to their health, water supply, and futures are immeasurable. The United States is among the few developed nations where shipping e-waste abroad — from the numerous "recycling" centers where we trustingly deposit our old electronics — carries virtually no penalty.

In Diffusion, delicate fractured waifs of ceramic are fused to wire, tipped in copper and gold luster, and suspended in the environment. Shadowy images of children in toxic play are projected onto the ceramic and filtered onto the wall behind them. Viewers are invited to walk into the space — becoming part of the piece as the projection covers their bodies and their shadows join the wall, at once with and apart from the children sorting desperately through our discarded world.