My 2008 artist book Start Here began as an extension of a previous work, The Providence Register of Lost and Discarded Objects, which re-framed discarded street trash as something of monumental importance. Start Here further explores the idea of successful contextual re-framing by developing a more holistic tone of rhetoric. Aristotle speaks of the individual and combined powers of three areas of rhetoric used to form a persuasive argument: ethos (authority), pathos (emotion) and logos (logic). Start Here addresses each branch of rhetoric by presenting discarded objects as scientifically studied and emotionally personified. While examining this work, presented as a deck of cards, the viewer follows a personal narrative relating to each object while examining a map documenting the exact location where each object was happened upon. Reading that a paperclip is a migrant worker who thrives during tax season and who fears being overtaken by staplers inspires my audience to look to their everyday surroundings with a newfound awareness of the potential for discovery.
