Artist: Joan Diamond
Title: Enduring
Attribution: Enduring, 2021, Joan Diamond
Year: 2021
Materials: Single use plastic bags, quilt fragments, organza, netting, thread
Dimensions: 64"H x 44"W
Image Statement: A quilt is a tangible link to family, imbued with sensory and emotive triggers, often too precious to toss in spite of worn spots and holes. The aerial landscape evokes a sense of place. Concepts of love and home, whether an idea, a real place, or a longing are collective experiences lasting a lifetime and cross all gender and social class lines.. Collectively, globally, we live in partnership with our artificial man-made world. Single use plastic bags live well beyond their momentary utility. It takes 500 years for a plastic bag to degrade in a landfill. They contaminate marine eco-systems, soil, water, animals ingesting them. Blue, the color of expansiveness, neutrality and lack of aggression, was chosen as ironic commentary. Here the news is packaged in blue, as if innocent of its greater toxicity? "Enduring" asks: are we mindful enough of what we hold dear?