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A Cairn is defined as a human-made pile or mound of stones that serves as a trail marker or landmark. This pile of rocks is Ella Smith’s version of a cairn. During her time in New York City, the notion of mapping became an everyday occurrence. In order to get around, she discovered that it was the bold bright visuals of graffiti that helped her. New York is filled with this street art. Old, crumbling buildings turn into abstract panels of color, a new surface for art. The grey concrete jungle awakens. Graffiti takes over and tells us stories of the people who stood in the same places before us. It makes us think about the importance of human interaction and influence on our environments. Through the process of navigation, these stones were collected at each graffiti site that helped guide Smith home. A brick from a crumbling wall where a huge colorful word hung, stones from the park where benches house an array of signatures. Part of the sidewalk under a sign that was in need of more color, a piece of the road next to an expressive barricade. Each stone painted intricately to mirror the graffiti at its original site. Stacked meditatively to carry her home. Through these cairns we rethink the standard of beauty and alter our view on what most would think of as vandalism, as a form of beautiful expression.
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