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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/898
142 MacDirectory COVER STORY SEATTLE: Chris Jordan is staging an intervention. For the entire country. He believes America is slowly churning towards a cultural and environmental apocalypse by way of our unchecked and desensitized consumption of goods and materials. In fact, he compares our national addictions to alcoholism, and it's time to start the conversation. Through his work of overwhelming and oversized prints, this Seattle-based photographer holds up a mirror to our nation, showing us the staggering realities. In his collections, "Running the Numbers" and "Intolerable Beauty," Jordan's images depict hundreds of thousands of batteries, cigarettes, and pills, millions of plastic bottles and prison uniforms – all illustrating the disturbing statistics of America's contemporary, hot- button issues. By visually representing the dry data through immense photographs or compiled mosaics, his work makes your jaw drop in wonder of how we could have missed this. Americans go through 426,000 cell phones per day?! Jordan's jaw is dropping too. This intervention isn't just for the rest of us, after all, it's for him as well. The Buck Stops Here Though these exhibitions have generated much praise and publicity, Jordan admits to carrying as much guilt as he does happiness with the series' success. Despite taking extra steps to be environmentally friendly (reusing rainwater, riding a bike, impeccable recycling habits), he is faced with quite a Catch-22: By touring the collections and even acquiring top software and printers to create his work, he has, in turn, consumed more. "As you look around my studio, you see that I'm not living the life of a monk," Jordan confesses, "I've got lots of nice stuff. And I fly around on jets all over the country…to talk about my work, and about consumerism, and about global warming. My best guess is that I probably consume more than the average American." Nobody is exempt, really. Everyone bears some blame: the government, large corporations, small businesses, individuals, THE AMERICAN ADDICTION > CHRIS JORDAN'S PHOTOGRAPHY EXPOSES OUR NATIONAL SHAME WORDS BY ALLISON HORD > IMAGES BY CHRIS JORDAN DETAIL OF "E-WASTE, NEW ORLEANS 2005" > ACTUAL SIZE 44" X 57"