Check Your Sources

“Syd Carpenter believes that since the Industrial Revolution and the rapid advancement of technology, people have become fundamentally disconnected from their origins. Check Your Sources is about tracing human life back to the original genesis of creation—fire, water, air, earth and organic forms. Part of a series, it was also created in response to what the artist perceived to be a weakening of government environmental policies. Check Your Sources is measured in relation to Carpenter’s own height of five feet three inches and may, in some senses, be seen as autobiographical. 'The use of clay is an expression of language,' said Carpenter. 'It is a medium I am very comfortable with, and it involves all my strength as well as my thought. I find using it a spiritual experience that becomes corporeal.'" (Interview with Syd Carpenter, September 8, 2004) Source: Sajet, Kim. The Chemistry of Color: African American Artists in Philadelphia, 1970-1990. Philadelphia, PA: The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 2005, pg. 55