In February, Kim Alsbrooks announced her decade long series “My White Trash Family” is over, with an accumulation of over 600 paintings.

Growing up in Charleston, South Carolina, she saw first hand the class bias that exists in our society today. Her interest in historical biases proved that society’s heavy focus on class distinction has existed for centuries.

Her series mimics 18th century portraiture that in their time depicted the rich and well established, while virtually ignoring the remaining, and seemingly less important, population.

Alsbrooks states, “The counterpoint is that records ignore the bulk of our historical past which includes many classes of people, ways of life, and stories of war that are not told. That which most likely had the most import on our culture and history seems to have been discarded, trashed.”

These elitist portraits were once created on ivory yet the substrate in which she chose for her pieces is trash, the discarded elements of every day life. Each piece of trash, which she finds on the street flattened by cars, is gessosed in the oval shape, drawn in graphite, painted in oils and varnished.

The combination of her ironic pieces painted with the realistic precision of 18th century artists on beer-can substrates showcase her views on the class inequalities that still exist today.

Image courtesy of (C) Kim Alsbrooks and Snyderman-Works Galleries