2024 Senior Exhibition Artists

Leah Stockwell

Concentration: Art + Design: Graphic Design

About Leah Stockwell

Leah Stockwell is a graphic designer based out of Freetown MA who likes to work in many different mediums, often in combination with one another. Shaped by her upbringing amidst the rugged landscapes of quarries and towering boulders, she has always been fascinated by the natural world. At times, she would escape to the White Mountains to sleep under the stars. The natural world inspires her most, as we ourselves are of nature among all of our artificial creations.

Statement

One Man’s Treasure is a series of collage posters and art pieces that seek to give new life to refuse and highlight the impact being left on our world. Being hyper-conscious of our global footprint is a guilt placed onto us by the corporations who produce more pollution than we ourselves can make up for. This does not mean that we should surrender ourselves to the burning of the world, but be aware that solutions that have been proposed to us are not the solutions they were promised to be. For the past year, I’ve been collecting the ephemera from books donated to Savers as most people discard whatever has been left behind by the previous owner. Bookmarks, postcards, instruction manuals, tickets, notes, and even a birth certificate. Working there has made me question our current process of recycling and as I’ve researched, I’ve found concerning data about the realities of our waste. I chose to collage the collected ephemera, because as with the process of collage, nothing is final until you add adhesive. It’s malleable and allowed me to explore different arrangements without worrying about creating more waste.