The Hard Numbers - Consumption

We just received the current issue of Denison Magazine. Denison University is a Division III school in Central Ohio from which my son will be graduating this May. Over the past four years, we have grown accustomed to receiving this award winning publication both for its artistic composition as well as its content.

This post is not about the school but is very much about a very special book that highlights the cover of the current edition / Winter 2010: Running the Numbers.

To quote from the magazine: "The artist Chris Jordon documents American consumerism by creating digital images that bring daunting statistics to life. His latest book, Running the Numbers, was published in April."

The following are a few of the "daunting statistics" that are represented in the link to this article. However, even more impressive than the statistics are the images that have been assembled to provide visual and visceral impact to the raw numbers.

• Riding the Wave: 2.4 million / "Gyre", 2008
  The estimated number of pounds of plastic that enter the world's oceans every hour. All of the plastic in this image was collected from the Pacific Ocean;
• In A Puff: 200,000 / "Skull with Cigarette", 2008
  The number of Americans who die every six months from illnesses associated with cigarette smoking, and the number of cigarette packs used to create this image;
• All Dolled Up: 32,000 / "Barbie Dolls", 2008
  The number of elective breast augmentation surgeries performed monthly in the United States in 2006, represented by the same number of Barbie Dolls.

I hope you will consider this - and future - issue of Denison Magazine. More importantly, I hope you will purchase Jordon's book.