Trash may well be the least inspiring material there is.  It is in itself a potent symbol, surfacing as an emblem of the way in which humans relate to nature. Finding Away is a single work of art created from a year’s worth of trash collected by Ari Derfel in 2007.  Ari’s decision to save his trash for 365 days gained national attention and has brought the phenomenon of trash into unusual focus.

Turning this waste into a work of art represents what humanity is capable of: transforming ugliness into beauty, the damaging into the beneficial, and the fragmented into the whole. The rise of western industrial civilization has given people an unprecedented level of knowledge and mastery over nature, but this power has made the living earth and civilization itself very sick. 

History has handed us an aching world and the opportunity to imagine, and then create something more ideal. Humanity is becoming ripe for consciously actualizing a beautiful world which is in harmony with nature, imbued with spirit, filled with creativity, and void of poverty, war, hate and greed. This is the vision the human figures in the artwork are Finding A Way to build. Humanity no longer sees itself as separate from nature and the wide universe.  Where people live and work is nourishing to the soul, but also nourishing and harmless to our precious planet. Beauty flows abundantly in and among human civilization.

Finding Away was shown in Seattle at Bumbershoot in September 2009.
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