Empty: The Wonder in Every Ordinary Child
Near the close of the 2022 film “The Wonder” the narrator speaks these lines:
"... are not children left to lie down
and die in ditches and gutters
every night of the year?
It is a whole sorrowful world
that's too hungry to see the wonder
in every ordinary child."
I scrolled the film back three times to listen again and transcribe. Several weeks before viewing the film, I’d finished reading Barbara Kingsolver’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel Demon Copperhead. The fictional stories in film and print are very different. Yet the theme of hunger wove through both and fell on me with brute force.
We can know a thing and ignore it
This is a form of survival. Do you know what I mean? It’s possible to know people live on the streets or sleep in their cars at night without changing the way we move through the day.
The reality of food insecurity may hover at the edge of consciousness if or when we pause for a moment of gratitude before a wholesome meal.
Such awareness rarely barges in and demands attention for most folks. (Such privilege.) If it did, we would all be in a perpetual state of emotional collapse and despair. And yet.
Sometimes a big issue lands in one’s heart and just won’t move on. Like every ordinary child who goes hungry in my own town. I read Kingsolver’s brilliant story retelling the Dickens classic, David Copperfield. And I thought: WTF!!?
What can I do?
I journaled to help my Self calm down. The What-can-I-do reply came in pieces.
I’m an artist
I make bowls
I live in the city of Riverside, California
How many children are hungry right here & how can I help?
Make bowls
One empty bowl for each child in my city who knows frequent hunger. Gather the hundreds, thousands? of bowls to create an installation. Call it Empty. I dove into research mode. Start with the data. Find the numbers. I talked to people. Anyone who was interested. Eventually someone pointed me to DataQuest on the California Department of Education website. Next, I refined my search
Riverside County
City of Riverside
Include Alvord and Riverside School Districts
Finally, limit the information to
elementary schools (K-5, or K-6 depending on district)
students eligible for Free Lunch
The Total Figure: 16,553
WTF?
This information left me devastated for some time. It is a lot to absorb. The number 16,553 represents children ages 5 and up in public elementary school, who are—as a friend reminded me when I was paralyzed with grief—recognized. They are identified and served by schools, often receiving free breakfast and lunch. Right. Someone is aware.
I also learned that many schools also have volunteer programs that pack special weekend backpacks with food for children in need. According to Food Policy Data Lab, “millions of children [in the U.S.] go to bed hungry each night, and countless families are stuck making tradeoffs between buying groceries or paying rent.” Furthermore, “The country is now facing the worst levels of food insecurity since the USDA first started measuring this metric in 1995.”
Current data shows that 10% of Riverside County residents experience food insecurity. Within the City of Riverside's city limits, numbers vary by neighborhoods; some areas are especially hard hit.
Find the Helpers
One way I managed to keep moving once 16,553 landed on me was to I reach out. I searched for collaborators. Child food insecurity is an issue I am not qualified to address as a spokesperson, but many people have been addressing the need for years.
By reaching out, I found solid data. I also met to Lynn Heatley, the director of the non-profit Love Riverside. (Thank you, Kris!) One area of the organizations focus: food insecurity. When I met with Lynn, we connected right away. She listened well and then shared her journey. She also asked excellent questions, such as “Why bowls?” and “Don’t art installations move?”
My notebook pages filled with ideas. Then she asked, “What do you hope comes of our meeting?” I had to pause and think. “Adopt me as your artist!” I replied. And just like that, I became the Artist in Residence for Love Riverside 😀
The Power of Good Questions
Lynn’s insights and wise questions helped me rethink the symbol for the project. What familiar form would be small enough to store, transport, and install by the hundreds, (ala Antony Gormley) AND instantly point to food? Spoons, of course! Bowls can still be sold as a way to raise funds, but the more portable spoons can roam around the city.
Instead of taking on the daunting 16,553 all at once, I can work by neighborhood with a different focus as the project evolves.
The images above show progress so far—from the first prototype to the finished and fired iteration with the project imprint. Hundreds more to make...
If you live in Riverside and would like to help me make ceramic spoons, please send me an email from my contact page. Or follow my on Instagram for updates.
I welcome every maker’s hand, beginner or professional, to help create this vital, socially engaged art.
Hoping to hear from you,
