ARTIST STATEMENT
“Preventable Death” was created to shed light on how smoking effects the human body. The orange filter represents the filtered opinions of smokers and features the starting growth of a tree – signifying the generational smoking habits developed within families. Inside the white tobacco rod, the tree branches extend, morphing into red veins and tumors which signify the ‘beginning of the end.’ Lastly the chard and burnt ash symbolises how an early death, once preventable, has now become an irreversible definite.
ARTWORK PROCESS
The student plastered a tube then cut away an opening, lining the inside with different materials such as wool and tree bark. These were spray painted with colours that match those on the outside of the cigarette. The student made a tree out of wire, morphing from orange into white, then red. The red contrasts against the white to look like veins, with paperclay "tumors" added here. The ash of the cigarette was made using chicken wire, aluminium foil and spray paint, with paperclay sculptures of bones and arteries painted with acrylic and attached throughout.