chris jordan: intolerable beauty

chris jordan has been out and about exploring through the back alleys, shipyards, and industrial yards of america for that all-too-easily-found evidence that america - and much of the western world is prone to the sorry by-product of mass consumption - mass waste. having said that, while his images are very much in your face “this is about you” kind of stuff, there’s a pathetic beauty in the pictures that makes them beautiful or intriguing in their own way.

he calls this series: intolerable beauty

circuit boards. atlanta. 2004

jordan’s artist statement offers this:
 
“exploring around our country’s shipping ports and industrial yards, where the accumulated detritus of our consumption is exposed to view like eroded layers in the grand canyon, i find evidence of a slow-motion apocalypse in progress. i am appalled by these scenes, and yet also drawn into them with awe and fascination. the immense scale of our consumption can appear desolate, macabre, oddly comical and ironic, and even darkly beautiful; for me its consistent feature is a staggering complexity.

circuit boards. new orleans. 2005

the pervasiveness of our consumerism holds a seductive kind of mob mentality. collectively we are committing a vast and unsustainable act of taking, but we each are anonymous and no one is in charge or accountable for the consequences. i fear that in this process we are doing irreparable harm to our planet and to our individual spirits.

crushed cars. tacoma. 2004

as an american consumer myself, i am in no position to finger wag; but i do know that when we reflect on a difficult question in the absence of an answer, our attention can turn inward, and in that space may exist the possibility of some evolution of thought or action. so my hope is that these photographs can serve as portals to a kind of cultural self-inquiry. it may not be the most comfortable terrain, but i have heard it said that in risking self-awareness, at least we know that we are awake. “

sand and gravel yard. new orleans. 2005

to see more of chris’s amazing photography then visit his homepage.

for something similar have a visit to my entry back in february of hong hao's work