Michigan: Land of Riches (2010)
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LIMBS
Among the first found objects I collected to transcend their novel status and assume meaningful, poetic content for me were the dismembered limbs of dolls and action figures. There is an obvious element of violence to such discoveries - the pathetic suggestion of war.
From the outset of U.S. assaults on Afghanistan in 2001 and through the occupation of Iraq in 2003, I came to think of these severed appendages as symbolizing the horrific injuries sustained by casualties of IEDs*, landmines, and other catastrophic events of war. Accordingly, I have situated the limbs in proximity to my toy weapons collection.
*With the emergence of the IED (Improvised Explosive Device), an insurgent weapon of choice, instances of trauma to the lower extremities escalated as detonations came from the ground up.