Forgotten

 

As a society, a global society, we put numbers and statistics on the human experience:

1,000,000 people homeless in Haiti due to tropical storms and hurricanes
3.028 die in Cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe with 57,000 infected
250,000 displaced refugees in DR Congo
170,000 refugees from fighting in Sri Lanka, 52 civilians died (Tamil Tigers)
1,033 Palestinians die in Gaza war
21,710 deaths expected due to Leukemia
20,510 deaths expected due to Lymphoma
7,590 deaths due to Oral Cavity and Pharynx Cancer
15,520 deaths expected due to Ovarian Cancer
34,290 deaths due to Pancreatic Cancer
28,660 deaths due to Prostrate Cancer
35% survival rate, Brain Cancer
5% survival rate, Pancreatic Cancer
11% survival rate, Cancer of the Liver
16% survival rate, Esophageal Cancer
1,437,180 estimated new cancer cases in the US
Estimated 11,200 deaths due to Skin Cancer
Estimated 14,100 deaths due to Bladder Cancer.
Estimated 3,870 deaths from Cervical Cancer.
Estimated 161,184 deaths from Lung Cancer, accounting for about 29% of all cancer deaths.
Estimated 49,960 deaths from Colon and Rectum Cancer. 9% of all Cancer deaths.
10,730 new cases of cancer in children between the ages of 0-14. Estimated 1,490 deaths, about one-third of these from Leukemia.
40,930 expected deaths from Breast Cancer (40,480 women, 450 men).
Myanmar death toll tops 10,000 due to Tropical Cyclone Nargis with    hundreds of thousands homeless.
Up to 10,000 dead in Burma cyclone
16,000 die in Bangladesh storm.
US ice storm kills 55.
European wind storm kills 16.
5-15 million die per year due to disease and starvation from hunger and poverty.
2.6 million die from the AIDS virus.
250,000 die per year from natural disasters: drought 50%, floods 34%
150,000 die per year due to medical mistakes.
100,000 die in car accidents

What do numbers mean to those afflicted? Those lost and forgotten in the sterile world of statistics? How can cold, clean numbers be put on real human emotion and toil? How can we confine the human experience to a box? The clean confines of numbers?

We become immune to the reality. Headlines are read in passing, in our own comfort. In the numbers meaning is lost, forgotten. In reality people suffer. People die, loved ones mourn. As the degrees of separation grow, as outsiders look in through the nice, neat numbers of statistics, meaning is lost. But the human experience cannot be confined in disillusionment. The reality will not disappear behind the headlines read in daily commute. An experience cannot be wrapped up by numbers, words. It is tangible. Felt

 

4"x4" Columns, Height 66"-97"

Life-size Cast Resin Hands

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