Awareness through Art

One of my favorite photographers of the last few years has been Chris Jordan. I came to know of him through his collection entitled Intolerable Beauty: Portraits of American Mass Consumption. These photographs show the amazing amount of waste that we have in our country. Large walls of crushed cars, shipping containers, and recycled paper; as well as seas of cell phones, circuit boards, and glass, and other things we deem disposable.

Last night he was on the Colbert Report talking about his new collection Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait. These new pieces are mind blowing! He uses a lot of the same subjects (and a few new ones), but in a way that represents statistics of our gluttony, waste, and some of the social issues that we are refusing to address.

Take a look for yourself. It is an eye-opening experience that really gets you thinking about your own lifestyle, and how you can be more responsible in your purchases, consumption, and waste.