Found objects, 1” diameter

My daughter was thinking with me about these pendants last night because she made a beautiful and thought-provoking pendant herself. On one side it has a large group of small beads symbolizing the majority of people in the world who don’t have enough to meet their basic needs.  In a separate section are some medium-sized beads representing the group of people who have just enough, and in one corner a few larger beads represent the small number of people who have everything that they want.  As we talked about health she pointed out that everything is connected. One thing determines another, which in turn determines the next. I think about it as cyclical, with each piece eventually feeding back into the first.  In public health we talk a lot about cycles of poverty, and we know the health implications of wealth and poverty are tremendous.  This pendant continues to explore the idea of wealth and poverty as social determinants of health, sitting at the center of a web of connected elements.  The coin sits solidly at the center, contributing to many aspects of a person’s life, each represented by one of a ring of small triangles connected by metal rods.  These triangles are like arrows, pointing the way forward based on how much wealth is at the center.