Artist Statement

I began this project by looking at everyday objects that are cheap and considered to be a throw away. We discard so much ‘trash’ every single day and unfortunately it all has to go somewhere.

I have recently been looking at a lot of documentaries on the impact we humans have on the world, and more specifically them impact we have on the ocean. Mission Blue was one documentary that really stuck with me. It is about an oceanographer and environmentalist, Sylvia Earle, and her campaign to create protected marine sanctuaries around the world. She travelled throughout the world to show the destruction and decay of the ocean floor and what we can do to protect them.

I recently moved house and as I was unpacking I realised I have a lot of disposable items, one of which was CD’s. I wanted to upcycle them into a work that discussed the issues of cheap and throw away items as part of our everyday world. I also wanted to use a material that largely referenced the ocean, and I chose to use netting. I liked the juxtaposition of the soft, flowing net against the hard, stiff CD’s.

I chose to hang the work in the shape of an egg or chrysalis to symbolise the life and transformation of the ocean. I then put the CD’s together in a very aggressive way and embedded them throughout the netting to symbolise the destruction throw away objects have on the ocean floor, which ultimately turns to death.