Christina Hunt Wood at RAG: Litter Becomes Art

By Robert Brune

ROXBURY — Christina Hunt-Wood, an upstate New York artist native now residents in Delhi. She has been continuing to gain recognition for her unique and thoughtfully provocative artwork for many years. She is a multi-media artist working in assemblage, photography, and video. Hunt-Wood has been building a portfolio of consecutive accomplishments such as becoming a recent alumnus of the Wassiac Project, an arts residency, exhibition space, and education center, 2022-2033 Creative Building NY fellow in collaboration with Roxbury Art Group (RAG), and she also received a 2019 New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) grant.

‘Human Nature’ is the theme of this exhibition with opened last Saturday at RAG and will run through February 3rd. Hunt-Wood describes the motivation and process of creating some of the art for this exhibition,

“Utilizing photography, and assemblage, I bring attention to the prevalence of discarded “road soda” litter—empty alcoholic beverage containers found along the backroads in my region. These objects serve as powerful metaphors, representing various forms of microaggressions tied to both the environment and race. I document and archive these discarded objects while also collecting and transforming them into new and visually captivating forms. By presenting the litter as an archive of sorts, I aim to underscore the collective impact of these objects as a phenomenon rooted in aggression and dominance, despite their seemingly insignificant individual presence.”

Hunt-Woods successfully accomplishes the goal of creating something shiny and beautiful from discarded beer cans. For example, the ‘The Rapid’ ‘Wassaic Waterways’ and ‘Keuka and Seneca’ appear to be like shredded confetti arranged magnificently flowing with a backdrop of the colored labels veiled by the silver metallic cans. This series appears like a map of various upstate NY region waterways trailing through each piece with the blue cans.

The Deconstructed Snow Soda series, Hunt-Wood includes her nature photography with golden encrusted smashed cans over the photo. “My thinking was that I was imprinting a beer can into photography. It’s a little more literal, but it’s standing behind my love for things being shiny.”, as she jokingly explains. Hunt-Wood describes how she intends to create a conversation about how many might view littering as thoughtless, careless, and harmful. Yet, using language that isn’t commonly used, such as aggression. This is a deeper perspective that feels accurate to a great degree, “It’s about trying to bring together a conversation, in a way that’s approachable.”

Hunt-Woods is an active member with the Bushel Collective community center in Delhi, “I deeply admire my fellow collective members at the Bushel, each contributing distinct expertise and skills while sharing a mutual dedication to inclusivity and community support. Our activities encompass diverse classes, discussions, performances, exhibitions, and serve as a hub for organizations to conduct their meetings and presentations. It's a beautiful space and a great team to work with.”

For more information on the exhibition for Christina Hunt-Wood and other ongoing events at Roxbury Arts Group see: www.roxburyartgroup.org On Instagram @roxburyartgroup and @xtinahuntwood_art