Power or Glory

Power or Glory uses playground physics to think about weight modification in relation to power dynamics.

Debbie.lee Miszaniec (BFA ‘08, Painting) is an Alberta artist working in Calgary. Her paintings draw from her observations of the human experience, history and society as well as her own experience as a working class western female artist.

Future historians may view health motivated weight-loss as on par with balancing humours. However in the past the reward was often social currency, by demonstrating virtue as the ability to master the body.

Power or Glory uses playground physics to think about weight modification in relation to power dynamics: pairing different masses on a teeter totter results in a power imbalance where the smaller mass, while elevated, is hostage to the larger mass. Agency is inherent in the position of having the greater mass, while the smaller relies on the larger for position. I am curious about who would encourage a condition of dependency as a demonstration of virtue, and why?