Running the numbers

"Running the numbers" is a series of large detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs. Designed by digital artist Chris Jordan, the series looks at contemporary American culture through the eyes of consumption and statistics. Here is an interesting interview about his work.

"Our consumption looks like something from a distance, and then, when you get up close, it looks like something very different. From a distance it looks like all these nice, shiny things that we get to own. And these great lifestyles that we get to live. When you zoom in close, and you learn about the toxic metals, and the world-wide pollution, and the details look different than it looked when you stood back at a distance."

Depicts 32,000 Barbies, equal to the number of elective breast augmentation surgeries performed monthly in the US in 2006.

Detail at actual print size


Depicts 1.14 million brown paper supermarket bags, the number used in the US every hour.

Detail at actual print size