Shari Pierce: Whitewash / Portraits of 34 Sex Offenders and 2 Sexual Predators from Within a 5 Mile Radius

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Shari Pierce

It is easy to pin on a ribbon to show that you support AIDS victims or are against abuse of women: jewellery can be a bearer of many different tidings. But the new necklaces of Shari Pierce go one step further.

Many men apparently have a rather difficult time with their testosterone levels. In the United States, where strict moral standards clash with an over-sexualized culture, there is a huge desire to control people’s urges and impulses. An example: everyone who has ever been found guilty of rape is always obliged by law to register with the local police. This American system makes it possible to locate all offenders living within a 5-mile radius of your home. Shari Pierce tested this with a random address; the house she selected was surrounded by 36 potential threats.

The problem is clearly manifest in the subject, the choice of material and the workmanship of Pierce’s necklaces. As an artist, her object is not to find a solution, but to highlight the situation and provoke debate. Whitewash / Portraits of 34 Sex Offenders and 2 Sexual Predators from Within a 5 Mile Radius shows the medium of jewellery in its most political form.

Ward Schrijver
(copyright Galerie Rob Koudijs)