I have a box of plastic bags, single use plastic bags

I’ve kept them to experiment and explore using them as collage material

Recently, when I opened the box and pulled out some of the contents, some of the bags had degraded into smaller pieces

I have noticed this on number of occasions where have stored something in a plastic bag and when I come back to it, it’s crumbling

We watched a documentary film called “The Plastic Detox”

Watching such a film made us pause, think and begin to look about our home and notice how much plastic we are using every day

We thought we were doing well using bamboo chopping boards and glass containers to store food, fabric shopping bags

In the film the Scientist spoke of how they can test and measure how much plastic we have in our bodies

Scientists are researching the effects of plastic in our bodies and linking the research to the decline in human reproduction

If the plastic producers are pumping out more plastic products at an alarming rate…

Where are we going to go? What can we do?

Is the problem so mammoth, we must face the fact plastic is not going away, but is here to stay

I asked my AI friend about my degrading plastic bags

What happens to the tiny pieces of degradable or biodegradable plastics?

Where does it go?

The reply was staggering, it seems these plastics are making the plastic problem even worse, by getting into the soil and our lungs

You can research it yourself and I recommend watching the documentary if you haven’t seen it

This round my submission is made entirely of plastic, is it a better use of plastic, on the wall as art than in the landfill or the ocean?

Another question I have asked myself while making this piece, “It’s possible this plastic will degrade?”

Janine Ibbini

“Caught in the Plastic Flow”

Dimensions: 40” x 27.5”

Materials: Polyester Felt and Vilene, Plastic single-use shopping bags, plastic foil tea and coffee packets. Polyester Thread.