Destroy to Create

You’re Breaking Up artist Mimi Young says about her work, “The Distress 16 is part of a series I began in the beginning of 2024. I physically engage each piece with the ground by using a rock or piece of wood to pummel the paper on gravel, dirt, and incidental plant material. There are many variances depending on the weight of paper, how much I wet it with water and the type of surface used. I then use the charcoal from my wood burning stove to make my marks. The irregular shapes influence how the marks are made.

Breaking Broken artist Elizabeth Keithline’s work focuses on human self-extension & systems of all kinds – architecture, technology, cars, the modern built environment and the natural world. Three decades ago, she pioneered a unique sculpture technique, weaving wire around large objects and burning them out. It was then that she noticed that people really loved large fires, highlighting a rarely explored aspect of human nature — our fascination with destruction. While society often suppresses destructive impulses, even shaming them, we all remember the childish thrill that we felt when we built a tower of blocks and knocked it down.