PLAStic​

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This sculpture is made from fused plastic bags which have been cut and moulded with wire into a free-standing, net-like form. 

This was one part of a summer project given to us before going in to Year 2 of Interiors: to choose a material and explore its qualities, capabilities and appearance to create a small sculpture.

I decided plastic was the material I wanted to experiment with and my first instinct was to explore the negative effects of plastic on the environment. To demonstrate these effects I tried burning plastic into a natural, floral shape, as a kind of juxtaposed sculpture which was made of something completely unnatural and man-made. I ended up not really feeling passionate about at all, and decided to completely start again with a fresh mind-set and an open-mind to the positive aspects of this widely used material.  

Because of the misuse of plastic and human-beings discarding of plastic carelessly, as a material it has developed somewhat of a 'bad reputation' in our ever more enviornmnatlly conscious society. As it has developed this role as the enemy of nature in our minds, it is painted as an unforgiving, landfill causing, mass-produced and unnatural substance.

With my sculpture project, I decided to challenge this assumption by remodelling a commonly wasted item into something delicate and beautiful. 

I remembered learning from an art project in Primary School how to recycle plastic packets and thin polymer into items of clothing for a recycling project. 

I used this simple craft of ironing thin polymer (transparant shoppers back to back (rather than coloured packets this time) to create a light-, translucent, flexible material and moulding it into a fabric which shared qualities with dress-makers lace or fishing nets. This close resemblance hopefully suggests the potential that plastic has as a material when it is used sparingly and disposed of responsibly, because after all, its not going anywhere any time soon.