top of page

Herbarium

Wiebke Pandikow

Finland/Germany

2014

recycled plastic bags, wood, entomology case

The term plastiglomerates has first been coined by researchers in 2013, when conglomerate structures of stones, wood and other natural debris bound together by hardened plastic were found on Hawaiian beaches. As plastic waste is effective as a firestarter and far cheaper than for example kerosene, many people unable to afford anything else will use it to fuel their cooking fires, consuming toxic smoke in addition to their food. The melted plastic combines with natural debris and over time is eroded and shaped into artefacts of human consumption and human inequality, without further human intervention. I echo this process in pieces are made from wood and gravel, held together by recycled plastic bags carefully shaped by hand and through heat. Something to look beautiful and innocent, for who likes ugly, far-away truths?

bottom of page