Transition 7 is a slot created by Customs House in South Shields in the North East Of England, for up and coming artists. I have been chosen for their 7th Year. For this exhibition my work in 2016 focuses on the one use plastic water and pop bottle and the plastic carrier bag and the blight on our society these items create.
This installation has over 2000 water and pop bottles they have been stripped of their identity and relabelled with facts about the crisis of plastic in our society. These bottles were collected by a small group of people including myself, in a short space of time. This task showed how much waste accumulates really quickly. While you throw it away you don't notice it but when you save them you notice how much you use.
'In this exhibition i will be continuing to work on my 'Retail Mat' from 2015, I will be working on in in the gallery as a community project, inviting people to contribute to finishing the 6 metres of hessian. Clippy matting is an old northern tradition, when make do and mend could no longer be done, the clothes and textiles were cut into strips and made into mats for the home. When this was exhibited in 2015, because of space it was hung against the wall and you were unable to see the back and the workings of the clippy mat. This is beautiful in itself and for the purpose of this project it has been suspended as it is connected to a very old oak clippy mat frame donated by Beamish Museum in County Durham.
We will see this mat grow over the next few weeks as I continue to recycle my Temporary looms of carrier bags from my degree show from 2013.
We will see this mat grow over the next few weeks as I continue to recycle my Temporary looms of carrier bags from my degree show from 2013.
As plastic carrier bags take hundreds of years to disintegrate on the land, I produced these small compositions of fused carrier bags. At first glance they look like small abstract paintings and then you realise although quite beautiful are the blight of our land.
Each one is individual as you don't know how the bags are going to move under heat. I made a series of 25.
Each one is individual as you don't know how the bags are going to move under heat. I made a series of 25.
As I continue to try and produce my own type of fabric, I reduced my temporary looms and made very small compositions out of plastic bags. Weaving on a loom of plastic.

With my constant use of plastic, I have been taking photos where ever I have seen plastic or bottles on the land. This series of photos over 80 high-light how much rubbish is just left on the land. This is a very serious issue. These photos are 4 inches square, so you need to take a closer look to see what the subject matter is.