Take Out

For the month of June, City Gallery will be exhibiting Lindsey Lord’s mixed-media work, which sheds light on overconsumption and its effects on our state. Lord’s work focuses on Indiana and, even more broadly, planet Earth.

Lord uses symbolism and her materials to illustrate the importance of taking a longer look at how our actions and habits affect our world. She draws from statistics and research she has done on endangered flowers and trees native to Indiana to visualize what is at stake in our daily environment.

Lord has always cared about the environment, but it wasn’t until she became a mother that caring for the earth became such a personal mission. Lord remembers the first time she felt this shift: “The minute my son was placed in my arms, I had the feeling that now I have to save the world.” For a time, Lord couldn’t throw anything away without thinking of her son. This feeling inspired Lord to paint a series of children's portraits under plastic lids and title them What We Throw Away.

Making art is a way for Lord to process her fear for the state of our planet and feel a sense of hope. All of the materials in Take Out are pieces that Lord has collected in her daily life. Lord finds meaning and humor in the juxtaposition that many of her materials pose, such as plastic bags that say “thank you” and are covered in smiley faces. “We are being advertised to find happiness and then told that consumerism is how we find it, but we are creating a bigger problem.” 

Lord hopes that viewers will feel inspired to consider their individual impact: ”I’m not saying don’t get take out,” says Lord. “But it is our desire at a human level to accumulate, acquire, and consume, and it snowballs and leads to these big impacts. Big changes can still happen if you think about your impact.”

The show can be viewed anytime in City Gallery during the month of June during Gallery Hours: Monday – Friday from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. The works can additionally be viewed and purchased on our online gallery through July.