Acre
The series, Acre, consists of drawings focusing on the inversion of scale and the representation of aerial views of the figure/ground relationships found amidst the grid logic of infrastructure, agriculture, and green areas of Illinois. The notion of mobility is made manifest through both layout and material application; made with a solution of pigmented salt, the salt itself references the multiple roles it has played in shaping the Midwestern landscape. It was the first industry of Illinois. More important is that the routes of most paved thoroughfares of the state today are originally based on animal footpaths traveled by creatures in search of both water sources and salt deposits. Incidentally, the majority of salt mined in North America today is used to maintain icy winter roads or is a main component of commercial fertilizer used for adjacent agriculture. In both contexts, it is an eventual contaminate of waterways transecting agricultural land and infrastructure. As such, both the highway system and large scale agriculture contribute significantly to the physical configuration of natural and built environments in Illinois, while also operating as symbols of industrial progress which mirror a concurrent ecological succession.
