Art On Plastic II
Dive deeper into original and curated artworks addressing the hard truth and asking: why is the plastics crisis so urgent, and how can we take positive action to solve it?
Not long ago, we shared our “Art On Plastic” digital exhibit with you.
It featured artists who interpreted the plastics crisis in their own unique way and also gave their take on how people can help.
Now, “Art On Plastic II” reveals the beautiful, thought-provoking pieces of four more artists, from sculpture, to mural art, to poetry. They give us even more hope that, together, we can change the ending of the plastic story.
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Benjamin Von Wong
Turn Off the Plastic Tap
Sculpture of scavenged ventilation ducts and plastics, three storys tall
Artist and activist Benjamin Von Wong is always looking for ways to capture people’s imaginations to engage them in tackling plastic pollution. In Turn Off the Plastic Tap (www.giantplastictap.com), he points to the root cause of the problem: production.
The faucet was made from ventilation ducts from a building about to be demolished. Then, with the help of dozens of volunteers, Von Wong sorted, poked, and threaded together the pieces of found plastic to build his sculpture. It took as much as seven hours each time to set up and create the perfect shot in the different locations: a playground, beach, shipyard, recycling center, and landfill.
“Single-use plastic consumption has gone up by 250 to 300 percent during the pandemic,” says Von Wong. “With the United Nations Environment Assembly coming together in February 2022 to discuss a global plastics treaty, we need to put pressure on world leaders to get the situation under control.”
Aija Mayrock
This Place
Poem, 2021. Audio recording: Aija Mayrock.
It is only when I fully immerse myself in mother nature’s warm embrace
That I recognize how tiny we all are
Our worlds cannot compete with the land between a lavender bud and her leaves
The basking of the sun and the wilting trees
And the symphony of the bees as they find their nourishment in the bud of a peony
Yet we, mere humans, dare to create
300 million tons of plastic waste
Nearly reaching the weight of our population to date
Waste which penetrates the sea, the earth, the air we breathe
From turtles to birds and everything in between
Our planet is crying
For you and I to lessen the weight
Of a crisis that sucks all the nectar from the sweetness of this very place.
Poet Aija Mayrock’s inspiration for This Place was nature, the sea and the mountains, where she has always felt most alive. “In learning about the plastics crisis,” says Mayrock, “I wanted to create a poem that would speak to the magnificence of our planet, while reminding people of how much of an impact our actions and waste have. I hope this poem serves as a reminder and call to action to show up for our planet.”
Jason deCaires Taylor
Clara
Collected microplastics and stainless steel armature. Life cast of a 14-year-old girl, 150 cm x 30 cm.
In Clara, British sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor hopes to show how all our lives are inextricably linked to the plastics crisis. He says, “We are nature and we will suffer the same consequences as the bodies of water we contaminate.”
“We spent many weeks sieving beach sand for microplastic particles,” says deCaires Taylor. “Once cleaned, they were set into a mould cast from a young girl from the Canary Islands, where the plastic had washed up.” The sculpture was photographed at various locations where significant deposits of microplastic had been found, and removed immediately afterward.
Lauren YS
Pandora
Mural on the side of a four-story brick building in East Boston, Massachusetts, created using exterior acrylic paint and Montana spray paint
Los Angeles-based artist Lauren YS created Pandora for PangeaSeed Foundation’s groundbreaking public art program, Sea Walls: Artists for Oceans. “It is a call to action designed around the way plastic waste harms communities and sea life across Boston and New England,” says YS. “Pandora references the Greek myth of the box opened to reveal all the evil in the world, paralleling the expediency of plastic’s detrimental effect on the air, water, and intersectionally disadvantaged communities.”
Together, we can send a clear message to leaders that we need a global treaty to tackle the plastics crisis.
If you want to get even more involved in saving ocean life for future generations, please consider becoming a member of The Tide, our global community of monthly donors.
The Artists
We hope you enjoyed exploring our “Art On Plastic II” digital exhibit. Whatever these artworks made you feel or think, we’d love for you to send an email with any feedback to [email protected].
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