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Artist Statement:

Enquiries into the dire consequences of anthropocentrism

My recent work has revolved around researching the source of violence in our supposedly civilized world.

War, aggression, abuse, ego, power, suffering, cruelty, and manipulation all emanate from one single source. Anthropocentrism. A self-serving, philosophical view that puts humans at the very center of the universe; a view further promoted by religious leaders and war-mongers alike. We now know it originated with the domestication of animals 10,000 years ago, when the slavery and killing of animals on a large scale necessitated the creation of a boundary between "us" and "them." A newly minted anthropocentric view allowed people so say "they're only animals; they're not like us." A concept brought further into neighboring tribes and eventually leading to sexual and racial supremacy -- "they're just women; they're different; they're black; Muslims; American they’re like animals!"

If we’re going to call ourselves a civilized society, we’ll need to resist and conquer the illusory divisions promoted by greedy political and commercial interests. Enacted to dupe us into thinking that we’re in a special position to do whatever we please as long as it’s done within the parameters of the monoculture they’re attempting to construct, we are not only sponsoring a violent world, we’re also sponsoring our own demise. To survive as a species, we’ll need to embrace the somewhat uncomfortable fact that we're not in the center of the world, but rather one species out of many.

Now, having identified the source, my present work aims to help bring about a change of epic proportions, similar in scale to when Gallileo brought down the cherished, anthropocentric view that the sun -- the entire universe -- orbited earth, dismantling our apparent rights to consider ourselves positioned where we would have liked God to have put us.

To this end, my current work includes projects which all apply the principle of geometric progression. A viral video series of short, powerful interviews of various opinion leaders capable of influencing and changing the minds of other leaders; provocative posters, sculptures, and installations.