Project Summary:
The photographic project Plastic Era as an Indicator of the Anthropocene is an artistic and environmental research project studying synthetic polymers found in nature through photographic techniques in an intersection of art and environmental sciences. The ongoing project stems from my research into the relationship between humans, non-compostable rubbish, and the Earth.
In its latest phase, Optograms of the Sea, the body of work presents a series of Cyanotypes on paper and carpet produced with plastic waste extracted from beach litter picking sessions in Adur & Worthing.
Optograms of the Sea has presented four different sections: Litter picking sessions in collaboration with the Marine Conservation Society and Surfers Against Sewage; cyanotype workshops with CREW, Heene Community Centre and Worthing’s Beach; a public exhibition in Worthing’s West Shelter; and a printed publication.
- Litter picking Sessions:
24th March by Worthing Pier with Marine Conservation Society
7th April by Heene Terrace with Marine Conservation Society
21st April in Shoreham by Carats Café with Surfers Against Sewage
17th August by Worthing’s West Shelter for the exhibition’s closing event
This phase involves litter-picking on beaches from Worthing and Adur and engaging with diverse audiences from the area with the support of the Marine Conservation Society and Surfers Against Sewage. The objective is to collect materials, focusing on plastics removal. To support the MCS data is collected by volunteers during these sessions to facilitate further analysis.
This data becomes an interesting asset to analyse waste origin and characteristics such as: sewage disposal, recreational, fishery (domestic and commercial), sizes of waste, materials…
Elements extracted from these sessions will be used in subsequent experimental photography workshops.
Along this project in about 4 hours of beach cleaning, 47 participants collected around 65kg of waste from our beaches of Adur and Worthing.
- Workshops:
Crew Worthing – 8th May 2024
Heene Community Centre – 22nd June 2024
Worthing’s West Shelter – 17th August 2024
After litter picking sessions I developed a series of workshops in local spaces such as Crew, Heene Community Centre and Worthing’s Beach. These workshops support the development and divulgation of the research by involving art and a wide variety of community members.
The workshops consist of a series of photographic experiments using the cyanotype technique with the collected materials from previous litter-picking sessions. The objective of these sessions is to analyse the extracted materials, considering their type (plastics, metals…), their possible previous uses (fishing, domestic, packaging…), sizes (microplastics, stay of defragmentation), and densities (thin plastics, thick polymers…).
- Exhibition:
Optograms of the Sea Worthing’s West Shelter Exhibition – May to August 2024
As part of my project for Creative Commissions 2024, I exhibited in Worthing’s West Shelter from May to August 2024 with the support of Colonnade House and Adur & Worthing Council. The exhibition Optograms of the Sea consisted of a series of cyanotypes on carpet done with the same technique as the workshops of this project.
The space and location for the exhibition were perfect to showcase Optograms of the Sea as it closes the circle. The materials come back to the beach and to the people who put them there, us, alongside the obvious correlation in colour with the sea.
The reason for using carpet is to introduce a connector or a metaphor for the idea of the domestic. I research the plastics in our every day: how we consume, how we dispose, what are our habits, what is our habitat and how is changing. Also, everything found is on the floor and the artworks are made in the domestic space.
Some of the carpet tiles are used to isolate shapes or materials by use or composition as plastic caps, fishing nets, recreational etc. Tiles are developed in different shades. This is because not all rubbish is seen so easily and for some materials for some materials you have to train your eye. Some blank tiles were included as our beaches are apparently, very clean.
- Publication:
Optograms of the Sea Publication of 20
The printed publication for this project merges the theoretical and artistic research of this project. It showcases data extracted from litter picking sessions parallel to artistic exercises produced alongside the project developed for Creative Commissions 2024.
