The pain of plastic
Walking on the beach. A walking meditation - the sand under my feet, the sea, the sound of the surf and birds. Appreciating being in the moment. Letting go of the painful thoughts about war, poverty and other forms of human violence. Simply being, one of trillions of living creatures - fauna, flora and fungi.
My trip to Cancun, Mexico was a gift from me to me. A much needed celebration of my 69th birthday. Breathing in the calmness and breathing out the stress and anxiety of life in New York City, USA, February of 2025.
All of this morphs when my eye catches colors that don’t belong on a beach - red, yellow, blue. Plastic bottle caps. I pick them up. I fill my hands and pockets with plastic. It pains me. Yes, they clean the beach each morning, but there is such an overwhelming amount of plastic that it is impossible to clean it all.
So, my morning beach walks become an opportunity to pick up as much plastic as I can. I carry a large beach bag and each morning I fill it with plastic. Plastic bottles, plastic bags, plastic shoes.
I return home greatly impacted by this experience. What to do? I bring the blue plastic tangled ropes back to NYC with me. I decide to do what I know do with painful feelings; I began to make work, artwork. I begin to transmute this experience.
After making one piece, I wanted to continue to play with my plastic pain. I took a canvas that is 18x24” and created a collaged background of the ocean. I made some gel prints the color of the Caribbean Sea, including a cut out turtle I made. I wanted to express how sea creatures are tangled up in plastic. Then I printed some of the photos of the plastic in color and collaged them over the “sea.” All the “plastic” is coated in gloss medium, which is like using liquid plastic. Then I added some of the pieces of blue plastic from the nasty plastic netting and rope I brought home.
Imagine this: Every human being who walks on a beach - anywhere on our planet - picks up plastic. Can we repurpose it? Can we make art with it? What to do with the pain of plastic? How can we participate in environmental change? I find quantum social change a helpful way to see a way forward.
“When we perceive of ourselves as entangled quantum systems and recognize consciousness and free will as inherent within our being, we can choose to relate differently to ourselves, each other, the environment, and the future. Yet an equitable and thriving world will not just ‘happen’ by adding the adjective ‘quantum’ to social change … To actualize an equitable and thriving world, we may need a different way of ‘being in action,’ including a different understanding of ‘being in action,’ including a different understanding of individual and collective agency.”
Karen O’Brien, You Matter More Than You Think
We are entangled. O’Brien helped me see the absurdity of separating ourselves from nature. We ARE the oceans. We ARE the trees. We ARE nature!
"We are underestimating our collective capacity for social change.”
- Karen O’Brien, You Matter More Than You Think; Quantum Social Change for a Thriving World