Beach Culture (specimen)

Beach Culture (specimen)
Fabricated light box, found beach debris, led's
900mm diameter, 140mm D
2014

I have been collecting plastic debris from New Plymouth beaches. I take it home, wash, sort and re-arrange it. Like an archaeological reflection upon modern culture; the kaleidoscopic arrangement is evocative of diatoms or mandala, as if peering into a microscope of societies’ over consumption of plastic. Plastic which could have become part of the oceanic food web.

This series of works has bought together two aspects of my practice; Light boxes and paintings. The light boxes used tiny cores of polyoptic fibre to make up the intricate patterns of Diatoms and phytoplankton, enlarging these microcosmic but environmentally significant life forms http://elley.co.nz/33155/696135/light-boxes/diatom-jewels-of-the-sea-i. In 2009 I made a series of paintings

based on debris I had found on the beach, collected and rearranged to reflect upon the wider environment http://elley.co.nz/33152/458434/painting/paritutu. Drawing from compositional frameworks such as Ikebana, the miniature arrangements commented on the larger environment, alluding to the macro-microcosmic relationship of our culture.
In these new light boxes the physicality of the found debris reflects our culture, the way they are arranged refers to the environment they are having an impact upon.

Detail

Beach Culture (specimen)

Owner

Beach Culture (specimen)

Light box made from collected plastic from the beach, arranged in diatom/mandala pattern.

Creative Fields