Category: AD395

This photographic technique have been used by Anna Atkins to record plants & flower as she was a botanist in the 1800s. And I thought I could record my plastic sculptures using cyanotype like Kasia Wozniak’s THIS IS PLASTIC series.

They didn’t turn out the way I wanted them to be. Crisp and sharp. Although the light source could’ve been better. The day I did these prints weren’t sunny.

This one in particular (above) I used my nail UV lamp to expose the paper. It is slightly sharper because the recycling logo is showing really clearly on the left. I was exposing the paper in sections because the UV lamp doesn’t cover the whole paper.

I knew the image above was going to turn out blurry because I accidentally moved the object while it was getting exposed. I left this to expose by the window sill and I left it there longer than normal because it was fairly cloudy that day.

This one turned out quite well. Not as crisp but you can see texture coming through the print. It has various opaqueness. This was exposed using my nail UV lamp suspended over the print to get more coverage. Rather than exposing it in sections. I also had a transparent glass on top of the plastic so that I know it won’t move while it is exposed. It’s harder to print my other sculptures as most of them can’t be flattened with the glass. Out of the 3 prints this one, I think turned out really well. Reminds me of water or smoke.

Overall, I really enjoyed the process although I definitely think I could do better. I may do it again but this time do the prints outside on a sunny day. That was the main problem I had when I did these prints.

While looking into Nadine Baldow and her other projects, I was inspired to create my own sculptures using plastic as my medium. I saw that she uses several techniques to mould plastic – heat being one of them. So I bought myself a heat gun to disfigure plastic bottles that I had at home. Experimenting with different density of plastics to see how they all mould differently and how quick it moulds when heat is introduced. I thought they turned out really well not disfigured enough like Baldow’s but its really interesting watching it ‘shrink’ and getting different textures from different types of plastic.

The first picture above is a lighter density of plastic. As expected this one didn’t need a lot of heat to take ‘shape’. I liked the bubbly texture that it made. I had to be careful as it burns fairly easily.

On the right, I layered on different types of plastics and melted them together. Creating more depth and various textures from different type of plastic. Some easily crumpled and some barely sculpted maybe due to the plastic being so thick. All are plastic found in the house mostly packaging. I also started to introduce coloured plastic as most of the plastic I was working with are clear. I noticed how some transparent plastic became opaque when heat is concentrated on it.

The Secret Life of Trees: How They LIve and Why They Matter by Colin Tudge (2006)

The book is split into 4 parts. Part 1 explains what is a tree and its structure. Part 2 tediously describes trees around the world and its classifications, which I found too long to read. Part 3 describes a detailed function on how a tree grows, photosynthesize, reproduction, nutrients it needs and so on. I found it really interesting. Finally, part 4 talks about the relationship we have with trees and why they matter to us humans.

I myself admire trees when I’m travelling around the world or just simply going for a walk in the park. I particularly like it when the sun light filters through the trees casting mystical shadows on the ground. I’m always in awe of the heights of some trees. Often wondering how many years would it have been to get to that height. Trees that are way older than me and believe that they have so much more knowledge than me.

I grew up in a culture where we believe that trees (believed to be centuries old), are housed with spirits that should not be disturbed

Himalayan Plastic Pleasure is a series of sculptures made from found plastic bottles in the mountains. Beautifully photographed in the Himalayans. Naratively touching on plastic pollution and mismanaged waste entering nature. From the way Nadine Baldow photographed them, they look like creatures that live in that habitat. They almost look organic. This picture in particular reminds me of a frog sitting on a rock.

 

This is just something that I was working on after collaging with plastic on an image. I started gluing ripped plastic that I had in the house and some found in the streets onto a transparent plastic from packaging. I’m really into the 3D textures that I created. It looks even more textured in direct lighting. Potentially be something for a shoot. Either a backdrop or on someone like a garment piece.

Below I did a mini shoot testing about my ideas and concept. Using it as a ‘filter’ with a figure behind.

Reading through Dr Masaru’s research was really interesting. Exploring the biology of water and how it evokes emotions and feelings from music, words, pictures and how it is treated. Creating various beautiful structured snowflakes often waters that are treated nicely with ‘Love and appreciation’ or melodic music such as ‘Mozart Symphony No.40’. Whereas waters that are neglected and treated with disrespect showed no formed snowflake.

I think this study is not just for water. It can be and should be applied to among other things like plants for example. Cater and water them well and they will flourish. Neglected then it will rot and die. Same applies to plastic products and clothing. Treat it with care and its use can last for years and so we won’t need to produce more plastic and decreasing plastic and textile waste.

The whole study and it’s message is a mindset on how we should live and treat nature.

I went on a holiday to Philippines for 3 weeks in January. On of the days I scheduled a trip to the infamous dumpsite of Payatas where hundreds were killed due to an enormous pile of garbage collapsing in the year 2000. Unfortunately I was only able to take pictures from the inside of our car with the windows rolled up. The air was not safe to breathe as Mount Taal has just erupted days after the visit to Payatas.

The disaster in 2000 left thousands homeless. This dumpsite was clearly neglected by the government in the Philippines. The disaster would have been avoided if the government imposed proper rules and regulations for managing the city’s waste. The dumpsite was closed for a couple of weeks but had to re-open because they had ‘nowhere to put the garbage from the city’ and ‘health and safety of the people in the city was at risk’ due to the uncollected garbage after the disaster.

Today it is still the main dumpsite and ‘recycling center’ for the city. They’ve imposed rules of no piling of garbage of ‘incredible heights’ and have also built walls so that the garbage is not seen from the public. You can see from the photos I’ve taken than I only managed to get a glimpse of the garbage from opened gates.

Image from Nhac Nguyen. It’s an image of plastic stuck on trees in a province in Vietnam. Taken on May 18, 2018.

The picture itself depicts plastic pollution perfectly. But I guess I wanted to exaggerate it further by collaging on top of the image. So here I glued on ripped plastic from found plastic bags. Layering them on and purposely creating creases to get a textured surface.