world is not your oyster

2019

How do humans attach abstract ideas to materials? The project "world is not your oyster" looks at metaphorical power expressed in material objects, often highlighting ironic or harsh realities. 

The snail and oyster, both members of the mollusc family, have bodies valuable for human commerce. Humans exploit oysters by depositing small irritants inside their shells to produce pearls. In nature, an oyster produces one pearl in its lifetime, if any at all. Meanwhile, the snail Murex, responsible for the most expensive and illustrious color, Tyrian purple, is harvested by boiling thousands of these snail to produce a 3-gram vial of dye. 

Both pencil graphite and diamonds are made of carbon. While diamond last "forever" in their brilliance, pencils wield an even greater power than diamonds through their ability to write and shape the thoughts of billions.