TIN CAN ROADKILL SERIES

For me, art has always been an inquiry at the intersection of the subjective and the objective.  Specifically, in my latest series, my habit of walking brought me in contact with flattened cans, mostly in the streets of Cambridge, MA. Initially, I picked them up to dispose of properly, but then decided they were beautiful and needed instead to be repurposed. Fair or not, I imagined them flung out of cars by males of various ages. The ubiquity of beer and energy drink cans seemed to point to a specific gender.  And I, as a woman, decided to do what we have done historically – make something beautiful out of this and that, in this case, “quilts” of roadkill cans.  

“Roadkill” cans, I have come to learn, are everywhere.  Beyond the Boston area, I have found them in the streets of France, Portugal, Thailand, and Korea, - they are all part of the international predicament of consumerism and trash.  We need to think about how to deal with the clutter that we create as consumers, and how adherence to principles of beauty might guide our steps forward. 

While I’ve used found trash to make a feminist statement, it must be said that most boys and men in my sphere are principled enough to use trash bins.  And one dedicated beer consumer and feminist regularly contributed cans when he knew I could use them. To the others, while I appreciate all of the material you have provided for this series, please consider holding on to your cans until they can be recycled. You can use the money you get to buy more beer.