THIS ART IS GARBAGE

CANADIAN GEOGRAPHIC COMMISSIONED FIVE ARTISTS TO CREATE ARTWORK OUT OF PLASTIC WASTE. THE RESULTS? EYE-CATCHING AND COMPELLING COMMENTARY ON THE MATERIAL’S IMPACT ON OUR PLANET.

Canadian Geographic commissioned five artists to create works out of plastic waste. The results? Eye-catching and compelling commentary on the material’s impact on our planet.

It was a powerful statement. For much of 2019, as visitors left Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada in Toronto, they were confronted with a silver canoe emerging from a tidal wave of plastic water bottles. What to make of this iconic Canadian symbol of water and wilderness engulfed in the seemingly ubiquitous empty bottles, a work titled Over Our Heads?

Questioning our dependence on plastic and the waste it’s creating is a principal motive behind the 10,000 Changes program from Canadian Geographic, together with Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Recycling Council of Ontario. As part of the initiative, Canadian Geographic wanted to inspire reflection on plastic similar to that prompted by the Ripley’s exhibit. So, we commissioned five Canadian artists to create works from plastic waste and share the rationale behind their art to provoke further thought on the issue.

Included among them is the very artist of the Ripley’s piece, Rebecca Jane Houston (page 44), along with Hilde Lambrechts, Katharine Harvey, Pete Clarkson and Kerry Hodgson. Some, like Houston, are already known for plastic waste art, while others mixed plastic into their existing mediums. All present pieces here that will inspire us to rethink plastic.