Oil Barrels, 2008Depicts 28,000 42-gallon barrels, the amount of of oil consumed in the

United States every two minutes (equal to the flow of a medium-sized river).

Toothpicks, 2008

Depicts one hundred million toothpicks, equal to the number of

trees cut in the U.S. yearly to make the paper for junk mail.

Plastic Cups, 2008

Depicts one million plastic cups, the

number used on airline flights in the US every six hours.

Plastic Bottles, 2007

Depicts two million plastic beverage bottles, the number used in the US

every five minutes.

Skull With Cigarette, 2007 [based on a painting by Van Gogh]

Depicts 200,000 packs of cigarettes, equal to the

number of Americans who die from cigarette smoking every

six months.

Prison Uniforms, 2007

Depicts 2.3 million folded prison uniforms, equal to the number of Americans incarcerated in

2005. The U.S. has the largest prison population of any country in the world.

Cell Phones, 2007

Depicts 426,000 cell phones, equal to the number of cell phones retired in

the US every day.

Cans Seurat, 2007

Depicts 106,000 aluminum cans, the number used in the US

every thirty seconds.

Handguns, 2007

Depicts 29,569 handguns, equal to

the number of gun-related deaths in the US in 2004.

Plastic Bags, 2007

Depicts 60,000 plastic bags, the

number used in the US every five seconds.

Ben Franklin, 2007

Depicts 125,000 one-hundred dollar bills ($12.5 million), the amount our government spends

every hour on the war in Iraq.

Running the NumbersAn American Self-Portrait   

This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs. Employing themes such as the near versus the far, and the one versus the many, I hope to raise some questions about the roles and responsibililties of the individual in a society that is increasingly enormous, incomprehensible, and overwhelming.

~chris jordan, Seattle, 2008

http://www.chrisjordan.com