There are so many things we as a society say and do so frequently and automatically that it saps the very significance of that gesture. This process piece is meant to mirror this phenomenon.

 

I began with a collection of Dove chocolate wrappers, each of which has a positive and encouraging message on it, that I folded into paper cranes, which have been associated with hope and healing - these represented the original or genuine intentions of phrases and actions used to assist and soothe.

 

Then, I smashed glass bottles, which perfectly innocuous and even useful until they have been mishandled and broken - these represented the disregard with which these gestures are used.

 

I then put both the foil cranes and the pieces of broken glass into a container with soap and water and proceeded to shake it for a lengthy period of time. This action allowed the glass to tumble until it lost its jagged edge and became like sea-glass, but this process also destroyed the cranes as the glass sliced through the foil with its sharp edges and smashed it with its weight - this represented the destructive effect that this misuse has on the meaning of these phrases and actions that once conveyed so much.

 

The resulting pieces were arranged to form the word "cliché." (2016)