Amy Bird

Artist Statement

How do we think and feel a way beyond worldviews and economic structures that work for some but not for all? Why go slow instead of fast when reconfiguring what is into something new? Where and how do spirit and matter intersect? The generative tension between the intangible and the embodied is a deep source of inspiration as I ask questions about value, and values, worth and worthiness. I’m interested in taking things apart, not as an act of destruction, but to find a way forward based on seeing better what’s inside.

Where do we look for stories of abundance rather than scarcity; generosity rather than greed; humility rather than arrogance? What if a story like that can be found inside a dollar bill? I’ve been exploring how money is all at once an abstract idea, a basic tool, and a force so potent it’s hard to look right at it, let alone to talk about it with other people. A dollar bill is something you can hold in your hand – 6.14 inches wide and 2.61 inches high, made from plants whose roots burrowed deep into the earth and flowers were nurtured by the gifts of sunlight, air and rain. Paying close attention to a dollar bill engages the senses and for me is good ground to stand on when considering alternatives beyond the transactional. Each time I create a collage from a single dollar bill, both the cutting up and the reconstructing provide opportunities to see and engage with cultural norms and values I cannot control, according to artistic parameters and personal values I do control. Every part matters. Thinking through money rather than avoiding or going around it is a way of holding up a mirror to my assumptions and hopes about how society has been and can be ordered.

@amy.bird.art