Protoplasm
"My practice resonates around the themes of space, time, anxiety and displacement. In photographing discarded plastic carrier bags found in the canals of East London, I looked to find some solace for the exiled soul of the plastic bag. After short, useful lives, discarded plastic bags enter into a perpetual state of retirement, their spent utility a metaphor for our own mortal anxiety, whereas the demise of plastic is a distant, uncertain prospect. The moment of disclosure (cognition) is delayed to induce a sense of disorientation allowing the viewer to disassociate themselves from the dogma of optical faith."
At first glance, these images look
something taken in space, like a galaxy of a sky full of stars. The deep
colours made you think of something in the area of space, with the trash black
background, it looks like a natural phenomenon. But in fact they are used
carrier bags, collected by Newark himself. Protoplasm created by Kevin Newark,
is a series of discarded plastic carrier bags found in the canals of East
London. In these photographs he looked to find 'solace for the exiled soul of
the plastic bag'.
Knowing that the objects are carrier bags,
doesn't make me dislike the images, it makes me more interested. I like how
something so mundane and everyday can be made to look so beautiful. I like the
use of light, light is shining through the edges of the bag making it almost
invisible. This is providing a good strong contrast in transparencies within
the image of the bag and the dark background.
I like also how the bags look very
isolated, they look very alone in the image, as if they are floating in a dark
large area such a water or sky. The bags look calm and almost gives off a
dreamy feel. They don't look like they have any energy, such as explosions or
fast movement. We also don't know how big the objects are by this image, making us imagine lots of options as to what they are. They could be whole skies of stars, or tiny bits of plastic. Either way, these images are making literal rubbish look beautiful.
I want to use this idea in my own work, I want to re shoot my used make up wipe shoot. I feel I could create some better patterns and shapes with my objects. I want to be able to use something we would normal discard and throw away, into something more beautiful, and something we would have to re think.
