Jury
2017-2021
found objects mounted on pine
72” H x 48” W x 12” D

The Jury is an arrangement of randomly gathered objects – worn gloves, discards picked up from the road. Each has been individually formed by a different hand, each with its own gesture, its own voice. Mounted independently, together on uniform pine mounts, the gathering is random, yet in an order. Poetic, human, this piece is a direct reference to the jeopardies facing the American legal system. It is a look back and a look forward to the founding principles of this country.

Trial by jury of one’s peers has traditionally been seen as the cornerstone of democracy and the foundation for the rule of law; a building block for the principles of democratic representation set out in the U.S. Constitution. 

Origins of the trial jury date back to panels selected to hear disputes before magistrates in ancient Greece. The custom of governmental intervention to settle legal disputes was further developed by the Romans. 

Founded in ancient history, a jury system became a crucial component in aiding of the achievement of the rule of law in the development of modern civilizations. 

The principal of a trial by a jury of one’s peers was essential to American independence. In 1735 during the trial of New York newspaper publisher John Zenger, colonial lawyer Andrew Hamilton of Philadelphia appealed to a jury of colonists and won a decisive court victory over the Royal Governor, defending freedom of the press by imploring the voice of the common man. 

“When the representatives of a free people are by just representations or remonstrances made sensible of the sufferings of their fellow subjects, by the abuse of power in the hands of the governor, they have declared ... that they were not obliged by the law to support a governor who goes about to destroy a province or colony.” –Andrew Hamilton, New York, 1735 

Americans, who successfully overthrew colonial political oppression, were made keenly aware of the importance of the trial jury. They recognized and established the jury as a vital instrument of The Constitution for the protection of individual liberty. 

The Jury is made from found objects, gathered from the road, they are random, anonymous, ordinary. Each gesture, an independent voice, 12 voices, 12 distinct truths; an institution dating back long before the birth of this nation of immigrants, who assembled 200 years ago to lay the foundation that governs this country.