Waste Walk: Reflecting on a Culture of Disposability
March 2018, Downtown Manhattan
For Waste Walk, I carried a seven-foot-wide mirror made of reclaimed mylar around Lower Manhattan to create a new relationship between viewers and trash. Instead of the forgettable action of disposing of garbage, waste became a part of each person’s reflection during their engagement with the performance. The piece examined three key questions:
1. How do we view garbage and what contributes to the assignment of these meanings?
2. What roots does waste have in practices that value consumerism and disposability?
3. How can discarded and rejected items play a role in art and the challenging of the art institution?
This project was inspired by Mierle Laderman Ukeles’ “The Social Mirror,” in which the NYC Department of Sanitation Artist-in-Residence created a mirror-covered garbage truck, which reflected the relationships between people, the trash we create, and those who collect it for us.
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Waste Walk: Reflecting on a Culture of Disposability, 2018
salvaged mylar and foamcore board, acyrlic, and adhesive
4ft high x 7.5ft wide
Special thanks to Hannah Shulman for assistance with documentation.
