Leftovers
Ruth Parish
September 3 – October 30
Opening September 3 at 7 pm
Artist Statement
Leftovers: Scraps from the Plastic Age
I was twelve years old when I realized that time is way bigger than we are. A call went
out for volunteers to excavate an ancient site just ahead of roadbuilding, and my family
were soon brushing dirt from our sections of grid. Uncovering tiny sherds and lost
baubles dropped by people close to two thousand years earlier, I wondered if I’d ever
dropped a coin or marble that would one day be found. When archaeologists sift
through the discards of the twenty-first century, what will they uncover? There are more
people on earth than ever, making and trashing things every day. What clues, ruins and
fragments will we leave behind? What will our leftovers say about us when we’re long
gone?
Our culture, so reliant on constant growth, demands we consume a lot of stuff. That
stuff wears out, goes out of fashion, gets replaced by faster, smarter, bigger stuff. For
our continual progress, scientists have awarded humans with a geological age, the
Anthropocene. That makes me think about the human parts of the fossil record that will
someday define our culture. Not just our teeth and our bones, but our abiding,
persistent leftovers. Archaeologists will have their hands full.
Leftovers is a series of digital composite photographs depicting an imagined future
archaeology, the archaeology of us. These photographs, a figurative fossil record, are
thick with layers. The pristine natural elements of rock, leaves and water are masked
and blended with images of supernova remains fashioned into discarded leaf springs,
headlights, plastic packaging. The juxtaposition of varied perspectives, subjects and
scales are puzzling and invite active examination and interpretation. The viewer takes
on the role of archaeologist sussing out just what happened here.
“Remains” by Ruth Parish 
“Empty” by Ruth Parish 
“Spring Flood” by Ruth Parish 
“Waterfront Fragment” by Ruth Parish
Artist BIography
Photographer Ruth Parish trained as and has always thought of herself as a painter. By 2007 her work with digital composite photography eclipsed her painting; highlights of her photography arc include a group show at the New York Hall of Science and a couple of artwork purchases by the City of Seattle. As a mature practicing artist Parish intends to share her work around the public gallery circuit.
After studying painting (BFA), Parish exhibited widely in local and regional shows in the Kootenays, as well as an installation in New Music America Festival, Hartford CT USA, group shows at Roche-Bobois, West Hartford CT USA and the National Exhibition Centre, Castlegar BC Canada.