"Ethics of Materials" by Keith A. Lewis

This is an extremely powerful essay on the moral obligation of artists in choosing their materials. Keith Lewis discusses the impact of ivory for art – “each piece of ivory has a dead elephant tied to it” and “at least 80% of market ivory is illegal." In the same vein, exotic woods, gold and diamonds all have a heavy environmental and socio-political “burden” – death, slavery and pollution.



(pictures from WildlifeExtra.com from an article called "African Elephant Countries to Work Together to Thwart Poaching" which states that "At least 20,000 elephants are killed annually for their ivory and the lives of about 100 rangers are lost each year protecting them.")

Even in his review of the excuses people offer to not take action in the face of such catastrophic evil (“I don’t have the time to think about this”; I have a business to run”; “My customers will only buy things with ivory or diamonds in them”), Lewis claims it is immoral to cite powerlessness, because he says we have “a responsibility to try to make a difference, if only by a gesture.” Doing the right thing involves exploring alternate materials and sources, and educating ourselves and customers about “re-defining the precious." He makes the strong point that as artists, the things we make, what we make them out of, and the things that we do are great responsibilities.