Embedded Files
MIA PARROTT
Ground Pork Meat and Packaging, 2023
Ground pork, plastic casing, plastic tray, printed label.
Owned by the Harris Teeter Grocery Store
The commonplace plastic casing and tray are omnipresent in supermarkets and grocery stores, where meat products are often sold in excessive amounts and with little consideration for the environmental costs and human and nonhuman animal exploitation.
GAVIN MYERS
Quantifiable Pollutionocene, 2023
A melted plastic measuring cup filled with oil-soaked dirt and wood ash.
Owned by photographer
This hybrid object reminds one of careless pollution and how human life is increasingly intertwined with and dictated by non-human actants such as oil and plastic.
JESSICA FERGEL
Rock Climbing Wall, 2023
Polyurethane, polyester resin, fiberglass, sand
Latitude Climbing and Fitness
Owned by gymnasiam containing wall
Climbing holds arranged on an indoor wall to mimic an experience that can be found in nature. Commercial climbing gyms can be found across the globe, having around 1,000 different climbing holds each. A human creation of an experience that nature already offers to us.
THOMAS SHARPE
Empty Water Bottles
Two 17-oz. disposable plastic water bottles, of different brands but made of the same plastics.
Created by Coca Cola and Niagara waters, currently owned by Thomas Sharpe
Each day Americans use and dispose of over 60 million plastic bottles alone, and over the course of a year Americans consume over 50 billion such bottles. The plastic of such bottles takes over 450 years to decompose and even after such a long time, microplastics from these bottles will remain in local watersheds and waterways.
Globally around 481 billion plastic bottles are used and thrown out over a year, with only an estimated 9% being recycled. These accumulated plastics are destined to remain in our water and soil for centuries, a toxic legacy of our modern plastic world.
LAILA KENNEDY
Daily Cup of Coffee, 2023
16-oz. poly-coated paper cup in "Good Day" print, residue of espresso with steamed oat milk and lavender syrup.
Owned and created by author at Aroma's Coffee Shop at Earl Gregg Swem Library
One of 50 billion non-recyclable coffee cups disposed of in the United States this year, this cup and the remains of its syrupy, caffeinated contents are deeply entangled in processes of colonialism through plantation and monocropping as well as the transformation of landscapes and nature through the accumulation of plastic in the biogeosphere. Despite its association with complete transformation of ecosystems in the Anthropocene, this cup of coffee is also sliver of radical hope through the transmission of ideas on a college campus.
CHARLES HU
Mechanical Pencil, 2023
A green mechanical pencil that is significantly damaged.
Abandoned; currently in custody of Charles Hu
A green mechanical pencil that has been left lying on the ground. Exposure to the elements has resulted in significant damage to the object. Its plastic body is noticeably weathered and contains multiple points of missing pieces. Its rubber grip is also hardened, presumably from exposure to heat, and is decaying in certain areas. Rainwater has filled the interior of the pencil.
Surrounding the pencil are several plants that do not appear anywhere else on the sand bed. Certain insects can also be observed resting near the pencil at times, possibly for drinking water.
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