Social Measures - Info Bombing
I chose Adam Burtle as my artist of interest. With strong ties to moral justice and activism Burtle
created Info Bombing with the hope
that it would cause people to stop and have further thought about the subject
matter and to (hopefully) further engage themselves by looking up the
information displayed on his info posts. He spray paints sidewalks and puts
stickers on light poles, medians, dumpsters, benches, etc., in and around
Seattle, stating statistical facts about race, poverty, paid maternity leave,
and many other global health and social justice issues. I’ve found Burtle’s
work to be interesting because it is an inspiring way to get people engaged, to
pull us out of our media cocoons. While Burtle’s work is not truly “art” in the
sense of a painting or performance, I think the ideas and motives behind it are
art. It is a way to have people stop and have further thought about what the
statistics actual mean and question their validity. it starts conversation!
The three links below are from Burtle’s Info Social Measures website. Some of the photos on the website, if you
click on them, have further information about the statistic: where they come
from, and why they are important.
(1)
The first link is a statistic regarding paid parent leave: “Only
11% of American workers are covered by a paid family leave policy for the birth
of a child.” Burtle emphasizes that the many reason why this statistic maters
is because, “the health benefits of paid leave are only accruing to the
children of the most advantaged employees.”
(2)
The second link is a statistic that was published in the
American Journal of Public Health in 2011. It draws light upon an economic
issue – income inequality – that has been a grow concern in many countries,
especially the U.S.
(3)
The last statistic states, “American babies are
twice as likely as babies in Estonia to be born at a low birth-weight.” I found
this statement to be interesting when considering the economic differences
between the two countries. It seems strange that babies born in the U.S. can
still suffer from a pure problem like malnutrition when considering our advancements
in technology and overall economic wealth.