Odd Beauty That Destroies Our Spirits

"The immense scale of our consumption can appear desolate, macabre, oddly comical and ironic, and even darkly beautiful; for me its consistent feature is a staggering complexity." - Chris Jordan
I like Chris Jordan feel the sight of these industrial ports contain an image that are "even darkly beautiful". You look at these industrial and shipping ports and you think how gross it is how much we just consume and throw to waste. Then you do some thinking and wonder how much of these waste can actually be useful. I love the art and beauty of vintage cars and I see how they cars just crushed and just piled up and it crushes me. Cause I think how you can take those old cars and reuse that metal for so many things or make new cars for people use that can have environmentally safe engines and recycled cars parts from old cars. You can take old beauty and refurbish it into new beauty. The dark part behind it is just sits there and goes to waste but still poses a twisted beauty.

Photo by Chris Jordan from exhibit Intolerable Beauty Portraits of American Mass Consumption 2003- 2005 http://www.chrisjordan.com/



"I fear that in this process we are doing irreparable harm to our planet and to our individual spirits." - Chris Jordan
The thing I would like to focus on is how we are destroy planet at the same time we our destroying our spirits more than anything. I feel in today's world as the future we are slowly loosing how to appreciate the simpler things in life. Like people have become such technology junkies and feel the need to get the newest things out there. Mean while the things that people already own are perfectly fine. For example by the end of this year you will see people start throwing out all there T.V.'s for new digital ones. Which really does not make sense because they could just go out and by a converter box for less money and then there T.V. will be able to work on the new digital network. Which really is the simpler thing in life. I have the same T.V. in my living room from 1984 which works perfectly fine all I'm going to do is buy the converter box. I chose the simpler and more cost efficient approach in these tough economic times to keep my old T.V. and just get a converter box. People these days are quick to through something out that is in good condition and replce it with something else because it is the new it thing, instead of apperciate what they have and turning it into something better. But there are people that decide to take what other people consider junk and turn it into some thing new. The people that do that there spirts are not lost into consumerism but apperciate the simple things that are out there and given to them or what they find.

I give dumpster divers alot of respect because they take old simple things and turn them into new treasures. I have never actually jumped into a dumpster but I have picked up things from the crubside. I have found peices of furniture that have become useful in my home and if not in mine I see if any of my friends can make use of it. I have also found some really cool book and old magazines. I hav read the books and passed them onto my friends to spread the knowledge and I know people that collect old magazines so I have given it to them. I as well have donated things I have found to different shelters or organizations that can make use of them. There are many churches in my area that have afterschool programs and homeless shelters so they are always willing to take things and find use of them. A friend of my mines mom worked in really wealthy areas as a cleaning lady and sometime on her way home she would find really great peices of furniture on the crub waiting for garbuage to come pick it up and toss it in some hole. Alot of these peices of furniture would cost alot of money and people didnt care cuase there menaing of value was something else. So my friends mom would takes these peices of furniture and toss them in her car and bring them home. She would refurbish them and polish them they would look brand new. She would find use of them in her home or give them away to someone else who could use it but she shore hated people seeing things go to waste. My aunt as well is a painter and she likes to paint different wood peices. She was working on a moral in a house and they were going to throw out this beautiful wodden rocken chair she decided to take it home with her. My aunt stripped the wood and painted different peices all over it and gave it to her husband as a birthday gift. So my aunt took something nobody wanted and turned it into a work of art as well as gift to someone. I'm not saying we should all go out and jump into dumpsters cuase it is not something im necessarily comfortable yet to do but, the next time ur walking down the sidewalk dont just look at the stuff on the crub as trash because there can be some useful peices there.

Photo by Unknown, http://www.planebuzz.com/Inspirational---Discover-Dumpster-Diving-Poster-C12085747.jpeg

Unfortunately thoughI feel our spirits have become consumer absorbed instead of appreciating the simple classic things.