bodily waste

Lori asked me why the trash ended up looking so neat and why wasn't it as gross and disgusting as the problems garbage poses. As she said, "Where is the shit in all of this?" She was even more upset when I told her bodily waste was excluded from the project. She felt by wrapping the trash in the newspaper, I was supporting the common trick of visually masking problems so people didn't have to deal with them.

I had about 5 months to think about visually displaying the trash for this one month project. For the year long project all the collected souvenirs will be re-used as art materials. I am particularly interested to see how a variety of artist choose to display and use their souvenirs. In the end, choices, even for projects that mix art and life, come down to aesthetic decisions on the part of the artist. My choice to wrap each piece of trash was very conscious. If I had just displayed the objects, brand, utility, and lifestyle would have been the primary visual codes. Not knowing what is displayed, I hope, brings the viewer to evaluate amounts, rather than specific lifestyle choices. I hope this masking raises more questions, like Lori's, than a direct display.