Magnet of the day:
Butt Ugly
Artist Statement:
...sidewalks, streets, bus stops, on the edge of storm drains, flower beds, inches from trashcans....this is the melange of places that I discovered the cigarettes contained in this jar....over the course of two days. Upon moving to Portland, I was stunned that such a beautiful, sustainable, caring town was also butt ugly, literally and figuratively.
...I chose to represent this contradiction in the form of a mason jar – something so simple and beautiful – what should be a holding space for grains, nuts and bolts, beads...
...the intention of this piece is to help reveal the True Price of a cigarette: lung and throat cancer, air pollution, water pollution, animal experiments, exploitation of tobacco farmers, the paper used for rolls, land and water used to grow the tobacco....
...and about changing Portland for the better.
...since I have made this discovery, I have made a point of picking butts up on my walks around the neighborhood, collecting hundreds of butts. The waves of sadness I still feel when I see this trash are tempered by the empowering realization that one less butt will make its way into the earth's waterways. One less butt will choke out marine life. One less bird will have to be forced to use a cigarette butt to build a nest...and a little less anger will be in the world.
...the impact is already tangible...
Price of Piece: $54
~Daniella Dennenberg
I just donated this piece to an old co-worker's benefit fundraiser for a trip to the Gulf Coast to promote alternatives to oil. I hope it sells at her silent auction!
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