Haitian Shorts; The Jewelry Machine

A Haitian boat of refugees runs aground on a small island in The Bahamas. The contents of the boat is abandoned. A tourist passes by and picks a pair of shorts that happen to be her size. She dusts off the sand and takes them home.

Do you know the journey that your gems have taken? Is the ring on your finger the result of someone else's pain? From mine to cutter to distributor to store, this piece depicts the "machine" that brings us the things we wear. The gems in this piece came from all over the world, but the only one that I am truly certain about is what I picked off of a beach.