I Think You Dropped Something
By the time most people have left the house each morning, thousands of tons of trash have already been whisked away from gutters and garbage cans. North American towns and cities are deceptive, they tend to deal with their waste so efficiently that the average person doesn't see how much of it there is, or where it goes. It’s an out of sight, out of mind, sort of thing. As garbage is swept off the streets each night it’s also brushed from the consciences of consumers who produce it. There is little interest in what happens to garbage once it’s thrown into the trash can or onto the sidewalk.
The work I’ve shot so far for 'I Think You Dropped Something' shows how waste can be transformed into something meaningful. Using stray garbage I collected and some basic kitchen tools, I create clothing and props that are modelled and photographed in the space where they were found.
People use fashion to express their identity: they dress the way they want to be perceived. By wearing garbage, a person embodies the waste crisis and acknowledges that waste is part of their identity. Wearing something most people avoid and are genuinely repulsed by demonstrates that trash can be transformed and renewed into something valuable and genuinely pleasing.
It may be overlooked, but garbage is a core part of every consumer’s identity, as much as their culture and heritage are. After we die, our waste will live on - by up to 1,000 years for some plastics. Garbage is an understated part of our collective legacy. 'I Think You Dropped Something' is a story
about accepting and transforming today’s waste problem into something positive for future generations to interpret, utilize and learn from.
The work I’ve shot so far for 'I Think You Dropped Something' shows how waste can be transformed into something meaningful. Using stray garbage I collected and some basic kitchen tools, I create clothing and props that are modelled and photographed in the space where they were found.
People use fashion to express their identity: they dress the way they want to be perceived. By wearing garbage, a person embodies the waste crisis and acknowledges that waste is part of their identity. Wearing something most people avoid and are genuinely repulsed by demonstrates that trash can be transformed and renewed into something valuable and genuinely pleasing.
It may be overlooked, but garbage is a core part of every consumer’s identity, as much as their culture and heritage are. After we die, our waste will live on - by up to 1,000 years for some plastics. Garbage is an understated part of our collective legacy. 'I Think You Dropped Something' is a story
about accepting and transforming today’s waste problem into something positive for future generations to interpret, utilize and learn from.