Artist Statement
As Above, So Below is a sculptural installation that visualizes the entanglement of systemic struggles impacting the American working class. The work uses fishing line and suspended tackle to represent addiction, economic disparity, debt cycling, and healthcare inequality.
By weaving together objects and materials associated with fishing, the installation evokes the way individuals and communities become caught in systems that are difficult to escape. The suspended forms create a sense of movement and weight, reflecting the emotional burdens carried by the working American. The physical burdens of the blue-collar worker are a theme Ghiloni has chosen to highlight with care.
Moving or removing any one piece affects the delicate balance that shapes the installation. Tackle that has traced four generations of the American poverty line and struggles with addiction join found object assemblages and hand cast soft lures hanging in systemic balance. Two fishing rods suspend the web, representing the overarching theme of two. Connecting the two extremes is the human instinct to seek out neurochemical rewards and social safety.
The bubble of Americans just above or below the poverty line are most vulnerable to struggle with access to healthcare, high quality pain management or debt relief. Tension bends the two tired fishing rods toward one another, keeping the objects strung between the two confined and delicately (but not comfortably) balanced.
Drawing from personal experience and political nihilism, Ghiloni has curated and created the specific set of objects you see. Because of the balancing act of the web, each installation of As Above, So Below is unique and hand tied by the artist.
A thematic highlight can be found with Ghiloni’s sculpture entitled Drag. The plastic mirror housing from an unreliable vehicle weighs down much of the installation of As Above, So Below. Desperately maintained vehicles with costly repairs are one of the most common economic sinkers for the working class. The mirror housing is filled with a mixture commonly used for homemade boat anchors, and carved into the rough surface is the promise of economic prosperity.