statement :: Visual Aides

In 2006, I was traveling through France and found brilliantly colored, printed "visual aides" at a flea market. Originally, these visual aides were didactic drawings used in classrooms in the late 1950s to illustrate different aspects of the world — farming, industry and the natural world — for children.

I scanned and reproduced these images on watercolor paper and updated them to reflect current events that relate to the state of our environment and how humans anthropomorphize the planet. The chosen events were inserted into the drawings using a style similar to that of the original works, so the completed image is a "Where's Waldo" of what has evolved and devolved environmentally and socially since the 1950s.

Collectively, the works introduce contemporary issues and ideals into a 1950s world view, creating a sometimes satirical, but persistently critical look into to our collective past and future.