This Is Not Equal, 2025
Description :
This Is Not Equal stages a quiet contradiction between measurement, value, and the idea of equality. The work brings together an American “two by four,” which in practice measures 1.5 × 3.5 inches, and a European “two by four,” which measures 2 × 4 inches. By altering the larger piece to match the actual dimensions of the American standard, I make the two objects physically equal while exposing the inequality embedded within the language of measurement itself.
Using an ordinary construction material, I draw attention to a familiar economic condition: as the cost of everyday goods increases, the quantity or material offered in return often decreases. The work reflects on this condition of reduction, where something can retain the same name, label, or promise while quietly becoming less. What appears to be equality on the surface is therefore produced through subtraction.
The work extends my interest in examining familiar objects and systems by shifting their measurements, functions, and cultural contexts. Here, a simple piece of lumber becomes a metaphor for how standards are constructed and how value can be manipulated through them. This Is Not Equal questions whether equality is truly achieved when difference is resolved by reducing one side to the limitations of the other.
