"If trash is everyone's problem, then it is also everyone's resource."
From the moment I came up with this phrase and until this day, this statement encompasses everything I believe in as an artist, educator
and socio-environmental activist.
This is my love story with trash and plastic bags. The texture and the elasticity of plastic bags took me back to when I was a girl and I used
to peel dry paint from surfaces, and this is how my interest in using
them as the main material of my works was born. I started collecting them ten years ago, when they abounded in our environment, and
since then, I noticed the great variety of colors, patterns, finishes and textures that they offered. It seems incredible that from something as mundane and familiar as a plastic bag, I managed to “own it” and turn
it into something poetic, aesthetic and personal. Becoming collages
that represent my experiences at specific times and places. Where
each artwork shares a story, like a diary entry.
With so many countries passing laws banning the free distribution of plastic bags, fortunately today I am working with a material "in danger of extinction". For this reason, the dream of seeing my works exhibited in a history museum and not only in an art museum, is closer to becoming a reality.
Convinced of the importance of my vision and the impact that it can have on people, I decided that in addition to exhibitions and conferences, another way to spread my message experientially is by giving Trash2Art Workshops in different communities around the world; where we do a community cleanup, we clean the collected waste, we classify it and then I teach them different techniques by means of which they can explore and transform the garbage into art, giving a new life to this material.
Currently, the plastic bag is something that goes beyond being a simple article of everyday use, it went from being a convenience, to becoming an icon of our generation, an enemy of the environment and a huge challenge for society. And now the question I ask myself is: What will happen to this love story with trash and plastic bags? Apparently this romance must last, and the way to perpetuate it is by giving these characters life and voice as something ethereal, to ensure their belonging in society and in the
memory of humanity.