Matter Out of Place

As I looked at a photograph of a Brazilian woman making natural fiber hand dusters, I was struck with the universality of eliminating dirt from our homes.  At the same time I was intrigued by the irony of our fight against dirt because the earth’s soil provides for our sustenance.  Matter Out of Place is a portrayal of that irony.  The installation consists of 100 hand made brooms, a collection of 27 bowls of dirt of varying color and texture, documentation about the gathering of each dirt sample, three lithographs, and a poem by Emily Dickinson.