Community Truths Big Sur, CA 2023
Gathering community members' thumbprints on fabric and in locally-harvested clay became a much more intimate process than I expected. I heard stories of incarceration, childhoods, and government distrust. I have endless gratitude for those who participated and contributed their unique imprint. Though thumbprints historically represent individuality and even criminality, here they are equalizers - unable to identify the person’s distinguishing factors.
In a community where reputation, property ownership, and lineage determine influence and power, these works are my idealist hopes for equity. Yet reality is mirrored in the loose weave, cracks, and broken pieces. There's racism, elitism, and a social hierarchy.
Sometimes the pressure of maintaining a certain reputation in a small community is too much. It's internally and even externally explosive. When housing is scarce and to secure the limited resource is dependent on your social connections, how you are perceived matters. It breeds social hierarchy and inequality: justice cannot be found. Though isn't the ultimate desire to be ourselves at all costs? To belong to a community. But what if the cost is a roof over your head? Over your child's?
In a community where reputation, property ownership, and lineage determine influence and power, these works are my idealist hopes for equity. Yet reality is mirrored in the loose weave, cracks, and broken pieces. There's racism, elitism, and a social hierarchy.
Sometimes the pressure of maintaining a certain reputation in a small community is too much. It's internally and even externally explosive. When housing is scarce and to secure the limited resource is dependent on your social connections, how you are perceived matters. It breeds social hierarchy and inequality: justice cannot be found. Though isn't the ultimate desire to be ourselves at all costs? To belong to a community. But what if the cost is a roof over your head? Over your child's?