FOXCONN SERIES
Foxconn Debacle
Wisconsin is a beautiful state filled with networks of small country roads that crisscross the land. We usually like to avoid the freeway during the summer and fall, so we can experience the miles of undulating wheat, corn, and soy bean fields dotted with old barns and ancient stone silos.
Sadly, in 2016 our then Governor Scott Walker made a deal with a Korean company to build a multibillion-dollar manufacturing hub called Foxconn. This company produces liquid crystals used for flat screen TV’s. In order to build this hub, hundreds of acres of beautiful farmland in Mount Pleasant were sold and bulldozed. Natural habitats were destroyed, wetlands filled in, and 100 year old oak trees cut down. Once beautiful farms were now deserts of flattened dirt. What is more disconcerting is the fact that, in order to produce liquid crystals, gallons of Lake Michigan water has to be used, and in order to attract this Korean company, environmental standards were loosened. This greedy, thoughtless deal is the inspiration for my current body of work.
FOXCONN SERIES CONTINUED
Fayum Mummy Totems
These endangered species totems were inspired by Egyptian Fayum portraits. Egyptian Fayum portraits were painted to memorialize the upper class dignitaries and civil servants. They were usually painted on wood and mounted on the mummified body, or painted directly on the wooden sarcophagi. In this series, I have honored the dead and endangered species as the Egyptians would have done. These are victims of the recent Foxconn debacle and loosened environmental standards.
ENDANGERED SPECIES
This series is an offshoot of my Foxconn series where I became aware of the affects of habitat destruction on our ecosystems. All the creatures featured are endangered due to lax regulations, over fishing and over utilization of commercial construction.
