Thank You Have A Nice Day (2020)
Cutout art using littered plastic bags
I pick up plastic bags on streets, fuse them into a sheet to create cutout art. The Japanese tradition of funeral rites for objects that is founded on the belief that objects have souls just like humans, plants and animals do has influenced this process of sublimating waste into art. In my artwork, I portray these littered plastic bags to be wandering souls forever trapped in our environment, until an action is taken to release them.
I combine the wasteful plastic bags with Japanese Washi paper, which is created by methods that are highly sustainable and made from renewable fibers. Its manufacturing process is deeply connected to the local natural environment of each paper mill.
Using the plastic bags and Washi paper as media, I create fantastical narratives of integration of the human and the natural. The narratives are visualized as apparitions merging with birds and plants, while at other times becoming conjoined to their own inner monsters.
Read my litter picking journal here:
