The Conversation Piece
The Conversation Piece is part 1 of the installation series Social Paths, a political commentary borne from the idea of the perpetual motion “drinking bird” in relation to the overuse of non-renewable fossil fuels on the environment and the United States. Utilizing vintage clothing and plague masks to emulate “drinking birds”, the two human figures, which represent rival politics and different classes, are similarly feeding from and utilizing a form of fossil fuel to sustain their mobility with no success. In essence this catch 22 is a constant cycle of environmental destruction. The plague masks act both as a disguise attempting to fool the wood stork represented by recycled materials as well as a testament to the fallacy the two figures represent.