Receipt
Ashley Boggs (Palm Beach Gardens, FL)
Mixed Media on Canvas, 16” H x 12” W x 1” D
Artwork:
Receipt is designed to resemble a standard store receipt, familiar and mundane. On closer inspection, the receipt reveals a purchase history itemizing real environmental disasters across the past few decades. Each entry reflects the cost of corporate greed: oil spills, chemical leaks, deforestation, poisoned water, and ecosystems destroyed by companies cutting corners in pursuit of profit. Beside each disaster is the line “You saved $0.00,” emphasizing the central contradiction of the system: corporations justify environmental harm as cost-saving measures, yet consumers never see lower prices or meaningful benefits. Instead, the true profits manifest as executive bonuses and shareholder gains, while the public inherits irreversible damage. The length of the receipt shows repetition and inevitability, these events are not anomalies but routine transactions. Who actually pays when profits are prioritized over people and the planet, and how long will the bill continue to grow?
Artist Statement:
I work across pencil, pen, and paint, choosing whichever medium best carries the weight of my message. My art reflects themes of environmentalism and resistance to capitalism, confronting systems larger than myself. While much of life is beyond my control, creating and expressing my truth through art is something that remains wholly mine.