We Make Our Own Monsters
In We Make Our Own Monsters, I address the relationship between plastic waste and recent changes in ocean life. For the first exhibition of this graphite wall drawing installation at the Lexington Art League, at the base of the stairs floating jellyfish are accompanied by a hand-lettered text: “As debris accumulates in the ocean, plastics are broken into particles which can be ingested by aquatic life and cause starvation. Plastic bags kill animals that mistake them for jellyfish and eat them. Overfishing of other species has allowed jellyfish populations to grow dramatically. Warming ocean temperatures also favor them. The seas may soon be crowded with jellyfish like the branches of city trees are crowded with plastic bags. We make our own monsters.” On the landing, a plastic bag at the moment it transforms into a jellyfish appears alongside this text: “Christina’s mother-in-law Georgetta, a lifelong Athenian, believed that when plastic bags drifted into the sea they became jellyfish.” At the top of the stairs, I reflect upon my role in the problem: “Christina told me this as we looked at the lake and drank tea out of paper cups covered by plastic lids with little flaps that lock into the hole one drinks through to prevent spills. They never stay put, though, and create only an illusion of containment. We make our own monsters.”