Haarika Kathi, $1.05, 2019. Plastic babies, adhesive, coins, and paper, 20” x 8” x 3”
This piece was created and accepted for the 2019 Open Call Exhibition “Cycles” at Worth Ryder, UC Berkeley. I considered the ways in which the human experience is mediated by through cycles and shaped by recurring patterns. Gun violence in the United States is a heartbreaking cycle that continues. Politicians that fail to pass appropriate legislation are funded by the powerhouse that is the NRA, and they have blood on their hands. I reference the survivors of the Stoneman Douglas shooting, who protested wearing price tags of $1.05—the amount of money Marco Rubio accepted from the NRA for each student in the state of Florida. The piece includes US currency in the amount of $1.05, 330 babies as a representation of the 3.3 million in the state of Florida, and the phone numbers of every politician that has accepted funding from the NRA.
This piece ultimately aims to confront and highlight this cyclical relationship between government and guns, a cycle that continues to be fueled by the greed of those in power and repeats all too often.
