The Waste of Time An ongoing sculpture and participatory arts project raising awareness of single-use plastic and marine plastic pollution.
Participants are engaged in fun and creative sessions creating sculpture and images using domestic waste such as plastic food and drink packaging, and collected 'Thames Plastic', - marine debris found on beaches of the river in East London and the Thames Estuary. Workshops are suitable for all ages. Workshops for schools are tailored to suit the age group / key stage, through working in partnership with teachers. Please click the instagram link to @barefootedarts to see the latest 'The Waste of Time' news. |
Background
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I grew up beach combing and have always used junk materials in my art projects. Some years ago I started experimenting with plastic waste - bottles, food packaging etc - developing sculptural objects inspired by nature. I collected the dust I created, using a jar of it to start conversations about the microplastics our world is full of. As my awareness of the global plastic problem has grown, so has my eagerness to use the stuff that has made its way into the wrong places. The tidal Thames flows through the centre of London collecting debris as it goes and depositing that and anything else the tide has brought in, on the foreshore . There are various places that are hot spots for this and I have focused on collecting debris from just one of these, an old dock entrance in East London. Back in my studio, I found that my interest was in the minutiae, the tiny fragments of multicoloured plastic, the unrecyclable food wrapping film, the chocolate bar wrappers, the polystyrene balls. The stuff that was left after washing the larger pieces of their mud and grease. I can't really dent the amount of plastic going out to sea from our river, but I hope I can start conversations and get people thinking about the reality of the plastic problem. Small steps to change. |
The Waste of Time at Rich Mix
Red Door Studios Open Workshop
