Sunday, January 24, 2010

Furniture to Firewood


In times of crisis, natural disaster or financial collapse people have engaged the resources around them to insure their survival, including burning their furniture to keep warm. As a result of the current financial situation I have developed a search route to survey the streets of the 30315 zip code area, where my home is located, to find piles of discarded furniture “trashed out” in the foreclosure process. Once located, the burnable wood is removed, cut into lengths and stored, awaiting use in time of deepest crisis.

The stacked wood stands in as physical and metaphorical manifestation of the mortgage based financial crisis that has swept the U.S. and subsequently financial markets worldwide. The paint, varnish and glues that remain on the wood render it toxic if burned in a closed area, this toxicity mirrors that of the securities that have affected the worlds financial markets over recent months and years. The stack of wood references the 300 plus properties in 30315 zip code area that at the time of this writing are currently bank owned and awaiting sale as a direct result of foreclosure.

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