This Joseph Cornell-inspired piece is based on visual research for a theatrical production of Jonathan Larson’s "Rent." The box, like the musical, focuses on the ways that lives of NYC citizens are intertwined in the midst of the AIDS crisis in the 1990’s. This particular box uses found objects such as broken glass, tobacco, bottle caps, wire fencing, condoms, and costume jewelry to highlight themes of lost innocence, human intimacy (or lack thereof), and economic instability in the city's most vulnerable groups. The objects, though, have been deconstructed and built into new structures-- although they began as vices and taboos, there's a possibility of building a home from the ruins, even if it is only held together by paper-mâché.
