Planet or Plastic by Kenzie Gilbert and Buy Now, Pay Later by Cristina Calderón
January 3 2020 - March 1 2020
OCA Mocha is pleased to present Planet or Plastic and Buy Now, Pay Later, a group exhibition featuring UMBC students, Kenzie Gilbert and Cristina Calderón. Each artist has created works inspired by the currently global recognition of the harm single-use plastics are having on our environment. While each artist has approached this subject matter in different ways, they are both using their art to bring attention to this topic and how it affects our communities.
Kenzie Gilbert’s series, Planet or Plastic, focuses heavily on cleaning up the area she lives in and making work with the trash she has picked up around her community. This contrasts nicely with the series, Buy Now, Pay Later, by Cristina Calderón, whose work tells the story of environmental waste that is being created by our love of online shopping.
We hope this work inspires reflection upon usage of single-use plastics and the impact one can have on their local environment by reducing such waste. We would also like to thank Kenzie and Cristina for sharing their work with us and for their help in opening this conversation with our community.
Planet or Plastic by Kenzie Gilbert
Planet or Plastic is inspired by National Geographic’s commitment to raising awareness of the detriments of plastic in our oceans and depicts my pledge to reuse and reduce the amount of plastic invading our ecosystem. I followed the trail of groundwater runoff starting from my home and ending at the Chesapeake Bay, collecting trash from each watershed.
The plastic pollution fished out of the water was then hand sewn, knitted, and crocheted together to create marine animals. Each creature was made entirely out of the plastic recycling I collected. The smaller photographs document the pollution I collected in the watersheds. I created photograms by placing a portion of the animal on black and white photographic paper in the darkroom. The work invites people to reflect on ways we can reuse and reduce the amount of single-use plastic.
Buy Now, Pay Later by Cristina Calderón
The packaging used for shipping online orders in the past has been grossly irresponsible and overdone. Shoving boxes full of plastic, bubble wrap, air packets, styrofoam and styrofoam packing peanuts, plastic ice packs, and more. These are the things that consumers pay less attention to, especially when it comes to discarding them. These are things that no one asks for, but everyone receives. Not all of these products can be recycled, and not all of the recyclable products are being recycled. Much of the waste from these packages end up in landfills, in the ocean, and other places.
This photo project is concerned with the immaterial versus material and the consequences of waste in the landscape. Through the photographs created, I hope to depict the reality of what becomes of the discarded packaging as well as the sense of uncertainty of the future of these discarded materials.
