"BAGS, BAGS, BAGS – PLASTIC EVERYWHERE!" by Elke Szepes
I recently visited an exhibition by Elke Szepes, a painter and textile designer from my area. Over the years, she collected all kinds of plastic bags and used them as material for her beautiful artworks. In her more recent projects, she works exclusively with plants, as sustainability has become central to her practice.
I’ve also started collecting materials and objects — sometimes without knowing exactly what I’ll do with them. For example, I have a bag full of used yellow cable ties and a box filled with grey bits of construction foam. How do you approach collecting or selecting materials for your work?
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Hi Christin 👋 good to see you again! Hope to see you at Diana’s materiality session, bring these materials with you, we can discuss. This is beautiful work! I do have such an aversion to plastic due to the devastation it causes. I’m always picking it up and taking it home to recycle it. I don’t want to use plastic in my work. I discovered this when I collaborated with a found tarp make of Polypropylene for an installation. If I’m unable to recycle it, I will end up keeping it. It’s a dilemma isn’t it. I’m unhappy with the idea of my work being plastic? Although I admire its use in work like you shared here.
I took the OCA sustainable practice Pledge at the beginning of the year and haven’t looked back, I’m glad to do something positive and make a difference through my work. It fits a wider ethical approach in my life to being as eco-friendly as I can.
I choose the objects that speak to me, those that have ‘thing-power’ (Jane Bennett, a posthuman theory) they’re often metal found objects. I love this material most, I find metal fascinating, especially when it rusts! Some I found recently, metal and ceramic: