Departika, a graphic and web design studio

Picturing Consumption

Every day from the moment we wake up we are bombarded by numbers. Starting from a simple alarm clock, the speed limit sign on our way to work, the numbers we hear on the radio. All of them land somewhere in our mind, rarely creating a memorable pictorial impression. Some things we are used to seeing in big quantities: leaves on the tree, blades of grass, gravel, even cars.
But what about all those statistics? It seems that graphics, pie charts and random numbers heard and seen in the mass media leave us with fruitless compares to be done in our own minds.
That is the main motivation behind the work of Chris Jordan. He takes massive statistics and turns them into pictures of complexity, brought down to a simple unit, something we can relate to, or use in everyday life. Just by looking at some of his images, one becomes aware of wasteful self-existence. His series and collections show us where the answer to “I wonder where this will end up at?” lays.

Building Blocks, 2007.
Depicts nine million wooden ABC blocks, equal to the number of American children with no health insurance coverage in 2007:

With figures drawn for scale reference:

Partial zoom:

Detail at actual size:

Plastic Bags, 2007
Depicts 60,000 plastic bags, the number used in the US every five seconds.

Partial zoom:

Detail at actual size:

Skull With Cigarette, 2007 [based on a painting by Van Gogh]
Depicts 200,000 packs of cigarettes, equal to the number of Americans who die from cigarette smoking every six months:

Partial zoom:

Zoomed closer:

Detail at actual print size:

You can find more information and work of Chris Jordan at http://www.chrisjordan.com/