Two Smoking Barrels is an exhibition that explores gun violence in the United States. Morgan Page and Dusty Mitchell create work that addresses guns as anecdotal objects and historical devices. Morgan Page works primarily in photography, video, and sound while Dusty Mitchell works in sculpture and installation.
Morgan Page’s personal and historical narratives related to gun violence are presented as videos or photographed landscapes with accompanying audio and in some cases, the model of the weapon that was used in the shooting is also a part of the installation. Her aim for viewers is that each individual not only consider the incident that took place in the landscape pictured and how that incident has perhaps been sensationalized in a way that removes its audience from its significance, but also the politics of the landscape and how that has been altered by the violence associated with it now.
Dusty Mitchell approaches issues related to gun violence in a more whimsical manner. His work is consistently amusing and even playful while
maintaining heavy undertones. As a sculptor and installation artist, the role of the gun as a consequential object is at the forefront of his representations of it and uses for its inclusion in an installation.
