Lighter Log

Willis Elkins’ work reminded me of the many beach cleanups I’ve participated in at the Harmony Hotel where we go out to collect debris from Playa Guiones in the late afternoons. The Brooklyn-based artist took an inflatable raft (and later kayak) to travel NYC waterways where the rising and falling tide can both create a vibrant ecological zone for wildlife and provide sanctuary for various flotsam that is pushed ashore from the rough seas. On these trips, he collected lighters and made the work featured above. He says:

I began to notice beached items on the least accessible shorelines: tennis balls on uninhabited islands; pre-production plastic pellets (known as nurdles) on rocky shores; and a plethora of everyday objects (bottle caps, plastic bags and disposable lighters) in salt marshes where people rarely go. Most of the debris I encounter travels to its destination via estuary currents, harbor wind, and the city’s antiquated sanitation system, which lets sewage and street debris overflow into the waterways when it rains. This project, “The Lighter Log,” which grew out of my exploration, is not solely about disposable products or ocean pollution. Rather, it deals with the exploration of overlooked urban coastlines, and how these geographies can be used to study waste infrastructure, and consumer/disposal habits of the city’s residents.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 24th, 2013 at 8:00 am. It is filed under Creative Culture, Sustainability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.