A diamond manufactured from the carbon in an armadillo found slain by auto in Palestine, Texas.
Glasswork in collaboration with Jack Gramann & Ben Manofsky.

Native to Mexico, armadillos are relatively recent "undocumented immigrants" to the US, having first crossed the Rio Grande only 150 years ago. With no natural predator north of the Rio Grande, they've multiplied to an extent that many Texans consider them vermin, often shooting them on sight. Armadillos are also the Texas State Animal.

The remains were handled as one would treat a beloved pet. A pet cremation service wrapped the remains in a “tender loving care” blanket prior to cremation, as seen in Perpetual Care, a video documenting the process of the diamond’s creation.

excerpt from Perpetual Care, video documentation of the Roadkill Diamond

installation view at the Columbus Museum of Art

Roadkill Diamond forms part of Tendered Currency, an installation exploring perceived value, U.S. culture, alchemy, and authenticity. Both diamonds and art are symbols of scarcity, emotion, investment, luxury, taste and exertion; both the diamond and art economies rely on cheap labor, careful manipulation of supply, and manufactured demand within insulated markets. As capital moves with increasing velocity, value itself has become an increasingly variable and subjective denominator in society, influencing the definition of art, and what it might obtain in both cultural and economic terms. Tendered Currency collaborates with these systems to investigate what we value and how we value it.