MATTHEW MOSHER: Ownership: Occlusions, Night Terrors, and Pernicious Doubt

Ownership: Occlusions, Night Terrors, and Pernicious Doubt
Wall Sculpture Data Visualizations

Patinated Cast Bronze

16in X 16in X 1in

2020

This series of bronzes visualizes 2020 data on gun ownership in America.

Pernicious Doubt
Access to a gun increases the risk of suicidal death by 3 times.

Occlusions
Carrying a gun makes the bearer 4 times more likely to be killed in an aggressive encounter than without a gun.

Night Terrors
Women are 5 times more likely to be killed in acts of domestic abuse when their partner owns a gun.

The materiality of these sculptures feeds their concepts. Bronze gives them weight and authority. The iconography preferences guns in this debate as our laws do the same. A Glock 17 was used as a tectonic due to its popularity both in pop culture and the police force. The patina, however, subverts these strengths, giving the mandalas a chalky ephemerality. They fade into the wall and appear as delicate as the lives lost to gun violence.

Acknowledgements:

This series was funded in part by the Puffin Foundation West Ltd, and supported by the Art and History Museums Maitland. Data from Everytown Research.

Exhibitions:

2020 Artists in Action, Art and History Museums, Maitland, FL

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