Eugene Borst

Homeward Bound
mixed media
36 x 60 x 36 in.

I am most passionate about the condition and quality of our oceans and sea life. I have been working on some pieces that pertain to ocean pollution and contamination of trash and plastics. The first piece I created is Homer, who is made up of plastic garbage bags and filled with plastic grocery bags and other trash that is found in our oceans. I made Homer after finding out that a whale was found on the Pacific shoreline with plastics and trash in its stomach, and it ended up starving to death. The second piece is Chubs, also titled ‘We Are What We Eat’, is an installation piece intended to bring attention to that the sea food that we eat has the chemicals and oils of the plastics the sea life consumed, mistaking it for food. I made Chubs as an angry outcry of finding so much trash and plastics on the main campus I attend, that leads or makes its way into our oceans, and then finding out it is a serious risk to eat seafood with plastic and garbage found in their stomachs. It is a serious issue that we must take better care of the quality and health of our oceans and stop the production of plastics and use or invent better ways to go around instead of using plastic to wrap our food in, or plastic to package a birthday gift. There are ways of reducing the use of plastics and there are other countries and organizations that use the plastics and trash found in the oceans to create steam energy or reduce plastic down so it can be made into jewelry to help raise awareness to this issue.

© Eugene Borst