The Hidden Truth

To depict my thoughts, I chose to build my canvas in addition to painting the images in my thoughts. The development of this idea began at my research. When I think of plastic, I initially think of water bottles and grocery bags. This is where my research began. When looking into the history of water bottles, I discovered that in the past, many people used ivory to hold their water until switching to water bottles later in time. This was an instigator for poaching in which my idea was developed.

In order to add dimension, I decided to build my canvas from wood and screws. On my canvas, I've depicted an elephant, the source of ivory, with water bottles filled with blood for tusks. The water bottles are being poured into a person's mouth showing the easy accessibility that we have to water bottles. By constructing the tusks as water bottles, the past and present have collided. The blood represents the harm poaching has caused elephants and the person represents the consumer on the other side of the product. The consumer is unaffected by this history behind water bottles as most people are unaware of this history.

In order to take this a step further, I'd make this a series piece. I'd like to create more self-made canvas paintings. One painting would be made up of an opened refrigerator filled with blood-filled water bottles inside a common household. Another painting would consist of several elephants behind a refrigerator in a supermarket. The elephants water bottle-tusks would be on display while the elephants would be poorly hidden behind the blood filled water bottles. By creating this series piece, I plan on telling the untold story of elephants.

DoC: January 30, 2018