Ruth Thomas

[Pic en vue]

PIC EN VUE

10.3 Billion Selves

This work is a transposition into colour of a statement published in a Le Monde article (11/07/2024) about the latest United Nations report on global population growth: ‘Le nombre d’êtres humains devrait culminer à 10,3 milliards d’individus en 2080.’ (‘The number of human beings is set to peak at 10.3 billion in 2080.’)

Each letter and each punctuation mark is replaced by a colour; the spaces are silver-coloured and made from the same metallised yarn used for the warp. The loose yarn ends and warp threads constitute an uncontrolled counterpart to the controlled woven surface.

It took about 300,000 years for the world population to reach one billion, shortly after 1800. It took less than 100 years for the world population to grow from two billion in 1928 to over eight billion today.

Growth will slow significantly from 2050 onwards. The ten-billion mark will be passed in 2059, but the peak will not be reached until the mid-2080s. Thus, in 2080, there will be 10.3 billion selves alive, together in the world, and yet each in their own world.

(Hand-woven tapestry in acrylic wool and metallic thread, 12 x 12 cm, 2024)

(This work was made for the application to the exhibition ‘Tisser le futur’ (‘Weaving the Future’) in Angers, France. The format was limited to max. 12 x 12 x 12 cm.)