American Collar II, by Jan Yager, is part of the City Flora/City Flotsam series. Diameter: 13in / 39cm. Materials: (139) found clear plastic crack cocaine vials. (222) found plastic crack cocaine vial caps, (2) syringes, (1) crack cocaine vial cap, cast into sterling silver, rubber, stainless steel wire. Techniques: gathered, sanitized, sorted, drilled, strung. Collection: Museum ofFine Arts: Boston. Artist's Statement: This collar is made with found plastic crack cocaine vials, and the insulin syringes of a fellow artist living with diabetes.  It references 21st century African Maasai beaded collars made with European tubular glass beads similar to those favored by 16th century slave traders. It speaks of dependency upon “legal” and “illegal” drugs, new forms of bondage - sometimes chemical, and, the economic forces that built the New World, and continue to impact the neighborhood around my studio.
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CC BY-SA 4.0
<span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>