Treachery of the Commons

2022 - Present

Inspired by The Tragedy of Commons, an essay first published in 1833 by William Forster Lloyd and readdressed in an article by ecologist Garrett Hardin in 1986.

“What is common to the greatest number gets the least amount of care”. Aristotle

The Tragedy of the Commons refers to the situation when individuals, acting rationally in their own self-interest, nonetheless act irrationally as a collective group by irreparably depleting a resource that is owned in common. The current climate change crisis is an example of 'the tragedy' on a global scale.

If each person repeats this act for long periods of time, then it is more dangerous for the common resource and ultimately the same for human beings. This is an economic and environmental science problem which has resulted in overconsumption, underinvestment's in solutions and depletion of resources. Knowing these facts and long-term denial becomes, Treachery of the Commons.

Murder of Crows

2015 - 2022

Murder of Crows was a body of work that speaks to the polarization of race, religion, and political views with a visual subtext of the historical pattern of prejudice.

The title is an emblematic reference to flock behavior, herding and the mob mentality that so often accompanies such actions. The issue of race has been imprinted on America from the original indigenous population to slavery, freedom and beyond. Our culture has justified the history of others, those unlike us, as being inferior; a prejudice that has impacted human development on both parts of the divide and now has reached a tipping point. The extremes are visible in the racial bias in the economy, income, crime and the prison population. Religion, as well as race, has been brought into our political world to divide and judge, rather than being a personal navigational journey. It has given select groups political power and has turned our society into a they, them or us culture.

Paramnesia (disorder of memory)

2014 - 2016

These paintings reference cultural memory, enlightening the observer to the behaviors of the past as they reference the present. Reflecting a dismissive and ill-informed attitude on subjects that have global consequences.

Daphne, from Greek mythology reflects our disorder of memory. She is changing to protect herself. We as humans have taken our climate to a tipping point, unable to honor signs given us through time and now looking at a problem that might not have the ability to reverse itself, without our involvement and care.

Cassandra, from Greek Mythology has been given the gift to see the future, but also the curse that she is not to be believed. We are given information by the science community, seeing for ourselves the real changes to our environment. Unfortunately those that financially profit from its resources are redirecting the information to achieve personal financial gain.

Tears of Ra, the Egyptian sun god weeps bees,it is the Egyptian myth that the bees bring secret messages to man. With the disappearance of the honey bee, the message is poignant, alarming and powerful.

Ophelia, from classical literature is drowning, this feeling that we as a country are drowning in intellectual poverty. Our school systems do not have mandatory humanities taught in the class room, perhaps leaving us unbalanced as humans. The notion that academic achievement is for the elite, and not achievable for all, has harmed us as a nation. Withholding crucial scientific facts from youth in their curriculum to manipulate an agenda.

Golden Bees

(2008 - 2015)

The Golden Bees was a body of work created in response to the disappearance of the Western Honeybee.

The project was started in 2008 and will continue until its completion in 2015. The final installation will be comprised of over four hundred individual pieces, the largest body of work for the artist to date. This study addresses the environment, but it is a natural progression from Wilde's past AIDS work. This disappearance of the honeybee and AIDS have a parallel, both are scientific challenges.

"Seeing only what is fair,
Sipping only what is sweet,
Thou dost mock at fate and care."
Author: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Source: To the Humble Bee

Harmed

(2002 - 2009)

Harmed is about greed and the corporate world. The work started out as a response to idle gossip in Wilde's hometown. This gossip involved a local corporate CEO and his wife misusing their power in the mid 1990's, making national headlines.

Wilde began to create images that would depict the debauchery, the excess, and the glee of those in power as they controlled and manipulated. She also included images portraying those who were losers in this corporate game. The ripple effect of this behavior was, and is terrifying. These corporate deceptions destroyed the lives and financial stability of these individuals. In the end, it is about loss: moral, financial, and maybe most disheartening: loss of faith in the corporate world.

During the seven year period while working on the project Tyco, Enron, and Arthur Anderson all were involved in these corporate fiascos. Now there are successors AIG, Wall Street, the banking system, the three major auto companies, and then the culmination: the Madoff scandal - all misusing positions of power. Those who were hurt most by this behavior are now the ones being asked to carry the burden.

"Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor" ―- Thomas Jefferson

AIDS

(1983 - Present)

For three decades, Wilde has investigated the social impact of the AIDS epidemic. In 1982, her son was born with a rare blood disorder. The parallels between the complications of his disease and AIDS propelled the artist into an unplanned journey.

Her first body of work, Plague Series (1983-1987) explored the parallels between AIDS and the Black Plague, specifically how people live through a time of great numbers dying: reacting with fear, denial, and blame. Six drawing were created that depict our unchanged reactions as humans centuries later when faced with death, sickness, and the unknown.

A second body of work, AIDS in Africa (1987-1990) is about the plight in Africa and the staggering numbers of those infected with AIDS. In 1990, Wilde traveled to Gambia, West Africa to observe the disease firsthand. After returning, she created Slim, a portfolio containing her first color plate etchings.

Her most recent etching project is AIDS Forms the Tally from 2008. Imagery from the suite represents the mounting numbers of those infected, individuals living longer, and ongoing research.

Wilde's work with AIDS is an ongoing process. A limited edition book, Half a Life is in development and is documentation of Wilde's work and the timeline of AIDS.