The following photos, video and text are to accompany “Breaking Point” gallery show happening at Next Gallery Denver on August 28th through to September 13th 2020. In late July this summer I asked my friends, “what was your breaking point” then added their words and images to custom made plates and shipped them around the country. My friends were tasked with breaking the china, returning it to me and adding their own documentation. I repaired these to the best of my ability, with the visible mends declaring, “by our actions, we are transformed”.
I’ve titled our collective piece “Broke Not Broken”, to acknowledge the things which pushed us to the breaking point; rage, frustration, profound loss and our need to address and examine them in a tangible way.
Unlike my usual work this piece is became deeply personal and went in a direction which I had not anticipated. For an artist this is always an exciting thing and I am profoundly moved to bear witness to the actions of my friends. I don’t think breaking plates in this context is a moment of deconstruction but instead, creation. We are violently releasing a thing that’s been bottled up inside. The plate doesn’t need to act as a substitute for the thing we’d like to break (the patriarchy, Steven Miller et al) but can act instead as a physical testimonial to the depth of our emotion and catharsis.
I am fascinated that with one exception, only my female friends asked to join in, I’d be curious to hear thoughts on this. I do see a taboo being violated here, we are the caretakers of the family china and all the baggage which goes along with it. When I sat down to write this note I went down a Wikipedia rabbit hole, reading up on the Furies. Picturing women all around the US breaking plates, they are the first image that came to mind. The Furies (Erinyes) did not just rage and destroy but sought justice and sat in judgement when the natural order of the world was violated. I know a couple of my friends are list makers, we can put that down for next Tuesday “restore balance to the world”.
