Boston University's Gallery 5
855 Commonwealth Ave, Boston MA
February 2016
Human Nature is made entirely of trash. The installation uses coffee cups, plastic bags, Styrofoam, used paper towels, and milk jugs to suggest what could be if people did not tear down nature to create garbage. The tranquil setting serves as a quiet space to reflect on nature.
I collected these materials off the streets or out of dumpsters. To me, it is important to reuse the abundance of man-made pollution on our earth. Much of my work illustrates the sheer volume of this waste and critiques the seemingly universal attitudes towards it. These immersive settings expose society’s disassociation from the processes through which things are made and where they are discarded to.
Although my pallets are often simple, variations are created in the way light travels through a crushed milk jug or crumpled paper towel and bounces off shiny styrofoam. Textures are my colors. They relay a desire to touch and engage with my work in a soft or slimy way colors cannot.
Inviting people to interact with the installation is crucial to its presentation. Adding the figure to a setting introduces scale, depth, and wonderment to these worlds. Wandering through a forest of garbage, wanting to pick up and touch everything elicits an experience unattainable from behind a rope barricade.
Used paper towel roses, wire, glue
February 2016
7' x 3'8" x 1'5"
Various product wrappers, sheet foam packaging, cardboard boxes
February 2016
7' x 6' x 4'8"
Recycled monster sculpture, recycled paper, cardboard
Monster - May 2014
Tree - October 2015
4'9" x 4' x 2'8"
Welded armature, recycled milk cartons, recycled paper
November 2015
Chicken wire, balled up plastic bags, wire
November 2015
6'10" x 3'3" x 3'3"
Crushed milk jugs, welded armature, recycled paper
Febuary 2016
6'4" x 1'1" x 1'2"
Styrofoam cups and containers, styrofoam packaging, used paper towels, coffee cup lids
Febuary 2016
7' x 7'8" x 4'7"
Cardboard, recycled paper
December 2015
(Inside of Big Tree)
4'1" x 2'6" x 1'8"
Crushed coffee cups (used), used paper towels
January 2016
6'10" x 4'4" x 1.5"
Used paper towels, butcher paper
November 2015
1'5.5" x 11" x 6"
Painted cigarette boxes, found wire, Styrofoam
Made 2014, assembled February 2016
"Please don't litter"