Dirty Money

Currency's Dark Side

 

Various forms of currency from a variety of cultures and time periods such as wampum beads, cowrie shells, feathers, tobacco, debit cards, digital money, etc. are show suspended in petri dishes. Miniature resin “paintings” evoke the idea that the money is both physically and conceptually dirty. Each petri dish appears like a bacterial swab - blooming with the filth of the many hands that have had a hold on the currency within. It is used for both vital and devious purpose and in some cases bears the marks of its use. To be impoverished is to know intimately that money is both painful and vital. The struggle to obtain it, sometimes through dirty, desperate means, and the difficulty of letting it go are part of money’s dark history.

 

 

Dirty Money

Currency's Dark Side

 

Various forms of currency from a variety of cultures and time periods such as wampum beads, cowrie shells, feathers, tobacco, debit cards, digital money, etc. are show suspended in petri dishes. Miniature resin “paintings” evoke the idea that the money is both physically and conceptually dirty. Each petri dish appears like a bacterial swab - blooming with the filth of the many hands that have had a hold on the currency within. It is used for both vital and devious purpose and in some cases bears the marks of its use. To be impoverished is to know intimately that money is both painful and vital. The struggle to obtain it, sometimes through dirty, desperate means, and the difficulty of letting it go are part of money’s dark history.