Plastic shopping bags have become a ubiquitous part of the landscape. Our relationship with them is symbolic of the urban condition and forces uncomfortable questions about personal responsibility. Most people have a generous collection of plastic bags tucked under the sink or crammed in a closet, a guilty stash that never seems to diminish. They are festooned about the streets, caught in updrafts or blown about by cars whizzing past; dancing trash that we ignore or aestheticize. Their convenience overpowers our resistance to their use; the simple things we could do as individuals to mitigate their impact are easily overlooked - they are emblematic of the resignation that many feel about the possibility of positive change in the face of global environmental crisis.

This project began as a way to come to terms with these bags; to capture a sense of foreboding, the ghost like nature of the prints implying something about their longevity. Creating one-of-a-kind prints begins to question their 'ordinariness', as each individual bag is in itself insignificant, but their cumulative effect is devastating. By creating a visual object, I hope to start a dialog about our responsibility as well as the futility that we all feel when trying to address these monumental problems.

Process: Each set of prints is created by placing a bag on an inked plate. The white space of the first print is the void created by the bag as it is run through the press. The bag is then removed and the remaining imprint is printed on a second sheet of paper.

Home

Statement

Contact

Resume

Links

Upcoming