Plastisphere
The importance of global warming and plastic pollution in the oceans is an issue that affects millions of animals and organisms living on this planet. “Plastisphere” is a necklace that explores the bleaching of the coral reefs and the plastic entanglement with some organisms in the oceans. These themes are important to me because I grew up in coastal cities in Mexico, and I saw firsthand the consequences of ocean pollution. As a wearable art piece, it questions the part that we have in the pollution of plastics into the oceans and the part that the plastics industry is playing in global warming. The modular necklace represents the different kinds of organisms affected by human pollution and the emergent relationships with plastics at a macro and microscopic level. The entanglement of the pieces and their materiality represents the inter-implications in the ocean between organisms and the different plastic objects. The use of micro and macro pieces found in the necklace represents the variety in sizes of creatures affected. Another aspect conveyed in the piece is the coral bleaching due to global warming. By wearing the art piece, I intend to generate questions about materiality, the provenance of these materials and the effects of plastic pollution on the environment. Many of the pieces used in this wearable art piece are found objects like plastic bags, six-pack rings, and plastic nets. By using these plastics that are common contaminators of the ocean, the art piece is questioning if we could reuse these materials instead of polluting our oceans.