For the past two years I have been traveling to various flea markets around the Eastern United States to trade my prints, rather than sell, for items deemed of equal value between myself and my audience. The prints I make eliminate any representational notion of politics Rather I am focusing on visual aesthetic qualities such as shape and color to address the politics of our image economy. I use these prints as an alternative currency for trading purposes. The barter or trade is a social and cultural practice present since recorded history. Not only does this form a relationship between the maker and “buyer,” but it allows for dialogue and discourse into the nature of what is value and how is it determined. Once the trades are completed, I arrange the recently traded objects into a still life used to make a new print that serves as an artifact to be archived. I take great care in transforming these objects into a print as they serve as artifacts of an agreed upon value of my work. By turning the traded objects into a work of art, I am elevating the objects as well as creating a cyclical and sustainable system to find subject matter for future prints. Whereas in my prior work I was using representational imagery to depict an idea of regional identity, I am now using economic abstraction to move from art as commodity to commodity as artifact. This project situates me in a rare engagement opportunity between audience and artist.  Rather than exhibit work and retract from viewer response, the work, the individual viewer, and myself are engaged in an open discussion concerning the power and value of the piece. This system I have created does not seek to combat the current art market, but rather run adjacent to it.