Walked Over

Human Rights Series, Cast objects in Jesmonite, plaster, vermiculite & Jesmonite pigment, 425 x 425 x 15 cm, Artist’s Collection

Detail

Walked Over was inspired by Judith Butler’s book Precarious Lives, and the concept that some people are treated as less than human or “walked over” by others. It also reflects my experience working in Khao-i-Dang refugee camp as a young medic after the fall of Pol Pot’s regime in Cambodia. It uses contextually linked objects (bones, weapons, sex toys) to metaphorically represent different aspects of war atrocities as defined by the United Nations and the British House of Lords. Arranged like an archaeological dig, it has an earthy quality. The viewer can walk over the floor made of fabricated cinder blocks containing these “excavated” objects. By making the work interactive, the viewer is uncomfortably forced to confront the buried objects and their contextual connections. The “other," represented by the objects in the cinder blocks, is hidden in a controlled system of a grid in the same way that they are ignored within society. The arrangement looks like a flag, a direct reference to territory— ironic, considering the current refugee crisis.

The Human Rights Series offers a voice for those treated as less than human, and reflects resurfaced experiences of my earlier career as a young medic working at the Khao-i-Dang refugee camp in Cambodia following Pol Pot’s brutal regime.