Michelle Lougee

ONCE

People across the globe produce over 300 million tons of plastic a year. Half of this plastic is used only once and then heads for the world’s oceans.

We must address discarded plastic remnants of human presence in nature, particularly in our oceans where life sustaining floating microcosms are being choked out by plastic waste. This installation features single use plastic formed into sculptural representations of marine phytoplankton. Inspired by the similarities in the shapes of some of the discarded plastics and marine organisms, I have used discarded plastic as building components in these rep- resentations of magical and otherworldly marine life to create an immersive environment of wonder and warning.

This work evolved from discriminate collecting, sorting and transforming of accumulated single use plastic elements into obsessive, dystopian objects. American folk art Memory Jugs commemorate the dead with keepsakes from their lives. My Fetish Jugs instead question the forgettable fragments of day to day life memorialized by single use plastic such as coffee stir- rers, contact lens packaging, beverage bottle tops, candy dispensers, and so on. Can we leave a better legacy?

Ghost nets are lost fishing nets that continue to float in the oceans wreaking havoc on marine life. Flotsam is a net handmade from single use plastic bags. The “catch” in this net is plastic refuse collected in less than two months from my personal use, plastic collection walks, and a group of eco conscious contributors.

Plankton is inspired by the similarities in the shapes of some discarded plastics and marine organisms. It beckons one to consider the scale of plastic pollution while forcing contemplation of usually unseen microscopic creatures essential to the food chain.

Inspiration Photos by Christian Sardet of Fondation Tara Océan.