Running the Numbers

An American Self-Portrait

by Photographer/artist Chris Jordan

Plastic Bottles, 2007
60x120"

Depicts two million plastic beverage bottles, the number used in the US every five minutes.

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Paper Bags, 2007
60x80"

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

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Cell Phones, 2007
60x100"

Depicts 426,000 cell phones, equal to the number of cell phones retired in the US every day.

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Office Paper, 2007
60x87"

Depicts 30,000 reams of office paper, or 15 million sheets, equal to the amount of office paper used in the US every five minutes.

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Cans Seurat, 2007
60x92"

Depicts 106,000 aluminum cans, the number used in the US every thirty seconds.

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Denali Denial, 2006
60x75"

Depicts 24,000 logos from the GMC Yukon Denali, equal to six weeks of sales of that model SUV in 2004.

Detail at actual size: (This is the far left corner of the lake)

Ben Franklin, 2007
8.5 feet wide by 10.5 feet tall in three horizontal panels

Depicts 125,000 one-hundred dollar bills ($12.5 million), the amount our government spends every hour on the war in Iraq.

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