I love sharing Chris Jordan’s work. Everyone – students, teachers, people at a presentation – everyone is awed. And I think the response comes from the dual effects of the statement and the technique. Always inspiring is his Running the Numbers. Jordan plays with our perception by presenting what often seems to be a slightly blurry image that ultimately reveals fine detail of its true subject. His newest work, Constitution 2008 is a good example of this long-shot to close-up revelation:
“Depicts 83,000 Abu Ghraib prisoner photographs, equal to the number of people who have been arrested and held at US-run detention facilities with no trial or other due process of law, during the Bush Administration’s war on terror.”
Below, Jordan lucidly speaks for himself in his TED presentation.
Besides Chris Jordan’s impressive contribution, I think his work is an exemplar of The Greek Sculpture Question: when information can be so easily copy and pasted in our digital era, what new criteria can education come up with to assess more authentic understanding and interpretations such as Jordan’s?
Here’s the TEDTalks version in case YouTube is blocked. Also, an online gallery or several series and the Bill Moyers’ show on Chris Jordan.