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Cast paper ves­sels made from paper recy­cled from cloth­ing and infused with wild­flower seeds, Philadelphia region, circa 2009 CE

“As much as I have always enjoyed vis­it­ing archae­o­log­i­cal muse­ums, I must admit that the prac­tice of archae­ol­ogy is a form of mod­ern grave rob­bing.  The basics of its phi­los­o­phy are that by exam­in­ing the relics of the past, we reveal insights into our present.  However, the eth­i­cal con­tro­versy remains; numer­ous non-Western peo­ples have had their ances­tral bur­ial grounds and sacred sites raided and vio­lated.  Perhaps dis­cov­er­ies lie in ques­tion­ing our meth­ods of unearthing the past– who is doing the dig­ging, and what are they look­ing for?”

- Michelle Wilson, artist

Wilson asks par­tic­i­pants to con­sider these ideas, and then reverse the process.  The ves­sels are made from com­postable, hand­made paper, infused with wild­flower seeds.  She asks that the future own­ers of the ves­sel bury it in shal­low earth, where the paper will biode­grade and the seeds can grow.  There, the traces of their exis­tence will dis­solve, to be reborn into a new growth.

Opening recep­tion with the artist, Monday, April 6th, 5–7 pm.

THE ART SHOP @ MOORE
20th St & The Parkway, Phila, PA 19103
Mon – Fri: 11am — 7pm
Sat: 11am — 5pm
www.moore.edu
www.moore.myshopify.com