Disposable

Disposable comprises a set of commercially printed paper banquet napkins. Where a corporate logo is usually printed, the napkins instead feature a photograph of a malnourished child. There is no text or other context provided; the viewer must draw connections from the sparse information they are provided, including the piece’s title. The napkin implies eating (furthermore, social and celebratory eating) and disposal, while the image represents starvation and suffering.

The piece is an indictment of our throw-away culture that externalizes costs to unseen parts of the world. Though out of sight to most consumers, these costs are nevertheless real. Each napkin reinserts the costs of uncritical consumption back into the very act of consuming and disposing. As a functional object, the potential use and disposal of the napkins with the image of a helpless child further implicates the viewer-user and makes immanent an issue that often seems distant.