Artist of the Week - Chris Jordan

Light Bulbs, Chris Jordan, 2008, 72x96"
Depicts 320,000 light bulbs, equal to the number of kilowatt hours of electricity wasted in the United States every minute from inefficient residential electricity usage (inefficient wiring, computers in sleep mode, etc.).

Educating ourselves in regard to our consumption and waste is a step toward modifying behavior. Starting to make changes on a personal level will begin the shift into societal change. Chris Jordan's work represents visually the staggering statistics of how we use resources and dispose of our waste without thinking about the ramifications.

The post headline leads you to a TED talk in which he explains his work and his hope that we can each raise our consciousness to the various issues his manipulated photography highlight: how much electricity we use, how many trees we cut down, how many plastic cups are used on air flights every day, etc. Once we are informed about the issue, we can begin to make changes in our every day life.

I particularly love this piece which is evidence of part of the collective moving in the direction his work wants to take us. Our collective web is strengthening.

E. Pluribus Unum, 2010, 21x21 feet, laser etched onto aluminum panels
Depicts the names of one million organizations around the world that are devoted to peace, environmental stewardship, social justice, and the preservation of diverse and indigenous culture. The actual number of such organizations is unknown, but estimates range between one and two million, and growing.

Concept and design: chris jordan
Computing and design: Craig S. Kaplan, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Organizations database research: Paul Hawken