Mackenzie Madison

Scoff
plastic bags on paper
24 x 18 in.

Dear Earth,

I am sorry. Your surface has been desecrated by materials we deem resourceful yet, they cause destruction unto you. Plastic is a beautiful yet volatile resource slowly suffocating your life and our life away. We created it to increase productivity in the business world, however we are now creating a predicament that will make life harder once more. A balance between plastic resources and recycled materials needs to be developed in the world today. My work analyzes these harmful anthropogenic acts on the environment involving plastic and recycled materials. I investigate this relationship by combining industrial and modern-day materials with figural imagery. This enquiry is pertinent to contemporary dialogues given our state of environmental and climate-related concerns.

Plastic has a painterly aesthetic; the way it falls and casts shadows. It is parallel to painting in stroke and movement. These plastic portraits illustrate our becoming plastic. They bring to surface, a modern status quo that goes otherwise unacknowledged. Many disregard their plastic resources, tossing them away and never thinking of them again. However, those plastic articles remain part of our environment for years to come. Plastic is becoming our environment, our activities: plastic is becoming us.

I am sorry.

© Mackenzie Madison