Hundreds of extinctions have been caused by invasive alien species. The ecological cost is the irretrievable loss of native species and ecosystems. - WWF

Plastic is the Alien Invasion We Created

The way in which plastic waste accumulates and destroys has a distinct form.

Five years ago I began hand-sewing linen shrouds around single-use plastic containers.  They are used to transport products that last a moment compared to these containers’ lifespans. Through my research and my enshrouding, I came to see these objects not as collective trash, but as individuals, aliens if you will, that would long outlive me.  

They are like a living virus invading our bodies and planet: poisoning, entangling, strangling, starving and supplanting.

Plastic is the Alien Invasion We Created                                

• begun 2015

• discard single-use plastic containers

• used linen

   photographs
Sophia Burke

The Fog Warning

The Fog Warning

His frail boat rides like a shell upon the surface of the sea…the stealthy fog enwraps him in its folds, blinds his vision… afloat in a measureless void. The Fisheries of Gloucester, 1876

The Fog Warning

The Fog Warning focuses on the effect of plastic on the oceans.  Plastic is non-biodegradable so every bit of plastic created will exist forever, continuing to break down, like the immense gyres of plastic in the oceans are degrading into a micro-particle fog.

As with the discarded small appliances, I enshroud discarded single-use plastic containers. In both instances the tightly stretched linen banishes the illusion of busy purposefulness, leaving behind an unusual matte solidity...and quiet.

While researching my another project Ghost Salmon, I read about the Atlantic cod fishery, including the traditional east coast fishing boat - the dory.  In this project dories made of birch bark will represent a time before factory ships and the devastation of fisheries worldwide.

Three full-size dories will be constructed of birch bark and filled with enshrouded single-use plastic containers.  Floating above the floor - in mourning for the oceans and fisheries where the primary catch of the day is now plastic.

Though dories were never made of birch bark, I chose to use it for their construction, as birch bark is a natural material that symbolizes a pre-plastic sustainable culture.

The Fog Warning - study                                                   

• begun 2015

• discard single-use plastic containers

• discarded corrugated cardboard

• used linen

   photographs
Anna Gustafson