Several Ways to Start a Fire, 2013
Twigs, rope, steel wool, 9v battery, magnifying glass, aluminum can, chocolate, underwear, close pins, condom, water, and hardware

Exhibited in For a Limited Time Only, MFA thesis exhibition, Moudy Gallery, Fort Worth, TX, 2013

Control of fire is one of the turning points of human evolution. It kept predators away, stretched the day past sunset, drew people together, and cooked the food that fed bigger brains. Several Ways to Start a Fire gathers the materials survivalists use to make fire: twigs, rope, steel wool, a 9-volt battery, a magnifying glass, an aluminum can, chocolate, cotton underwear, clothespins, and a water-filled condom.

Each object has been altered to pull it further from its everyday use, and the arrangement reads first as a formal composition. The piece works two ways: as an art object while there is a market to value it, and as a working survival kit if that market ever collapses. Making fire is part of what makes us human, and so is making, and admiring, things that have no practical use.