Toxic Babies- My new photo series

Today in America, everything is made with convenience in mind. In this country the necesseties of life are all mass produced for us, and are then mass marketed around the clock. Seizing on the need people have to save time in this busy world, American corporations have developed a lucrative convenience industry. This industry has seized control of American child rearing on all levels. From convenient babies (a la fertility drugs), to convenient baby care (a la baby formula), to convenient food, the product addicted parent then forces their own addiction onto their child in a near helpless cycle of corporate enslavement. In the case of the baby formula/bottle industry, corporations have people so snookered that they never even allow their children to sample the free, natural form of food a mother has built into her (breast feeding). The widespread societal result: legions of neglected American Toxic Babies.

Toxic Babies is a scary but humorous look at America's foibles. I like to use humor to explore the negative side of life as a way of saying we are all humans, we all make mistakes, and if we can laugh at our own ridiculous behavior, as opposed to wallowing in it, acomplishing the correction of that behavior will be much more likely.These big, bright, humorous photographs draw people into thinking about topics they may not normally think about.

The faces of my toxic babies are the faces of the various toy babies I found in and around the Santa Cruz area's stores. As I usually do with my toy photography, I pair combinations of toys in a temporary assemblage and then photograph them to reveal the psychological biases and political predispositions of the toymakers and their own corporate influences. It's also a great excuse to play with toys.