Koda Miles

These cigarette-nuggets are a record of the tedious process of picking up trash along the Greenway in Fayetteville, AR. The number one material I collect on these missions is cigarette butts. I blend the found cigarettes with creek water and press the sludge into plaster McDonald’s chicken nugget molds, forming the perfect nugget we all know and recognize. The absurdity of these cigs passing as the nugget a person would expect in this package highlights the ultra-processed nature of the fast food industry. The addictive qualities of both products lend themselves to a kind of diversion of personal responsibility when it comes to ethical consumption and disposal. Capitalism is built to let consumers ignore the negative effects on both our bodies and the land we live on. The turbulent times we live in are reflected in the way we treat the earth and ourselves. We spike our dopamine with ultra-processed products and media as if there’s no tomorrow. It would be easy for someone to glance at this piece and not think anything of it: “wannabe Duchamp over here puts McDonald’s in a gallery, big whoop.” I want to reward those who choose to question the ingredients and the process of what’s in the box with the realization that it isn’t what it appears to be.

This photography diptych was made to challenge an uncomfortable moment I had with an authority figure in school. It had been assumed I would be naked in front of classmates to insert a tampon for a performance and I had to explain to an old man that women aren't naked when they insert tampons. I was poking fun here thinking about how this man imagines I would use the woodshop.

I collect abandoned grocery carts in order to provide Walmart with a free repair, cleaning, and return service. All without the company’s knowledge. The expectation of a Walmart customer is to use a cart to shop and return it to a cart corral before leaving. This small act is framed as a form of personal responsibility, one that prevents the displacement of labor onto an underpaid employee tasked with retrieving stray carts from the parking lot. When a customer fails to return a cart, it is widely understood as a minor moral lapse. What does it mean to exceed these expectations in service of a corporation? I bring found carts into my studio, where I deep clean them and 3D print replacement parts before returning them to Walmart. In doing so, I engage in a form of voluntary, uncompensated labor that mirrors and exaggerates the logics of efficiency, maintenance, and care embedded within corporate systems.

I collect abandoned grocery carts in order to provide Walmart with a free repair, cleaning, and return service. All without the company’s knowledge. The expectation of a Walmart customer is to use a cart to shop and return it to a cart corral before leaving. This small act is framed as a form of personal responsibility, one that prevents the displacement of labor onto an underpaid employee tasked with retrieving stray carts from the parking lot. When a customer fails to return a cart, it is widely understood as a minor moral lapse. What does it mean to exceed these expectations in service of a corporation? I bring found carts into my studio, where I deep clean them and 3D print replacement parts before returning them to Walmart. In doing so, I engage in a form of voluntary, uncompensated labor that mirrors and exaggerates the logics of efficiency, maintenance, and care embedded within corporate systems.