This piece represents the connection of humankind to the environment around us. Fish eat plastic, we eat fish and we take in whatever micro plastics are present with in the body of the fish.
This topic is especially important to me as someone working in the health and wellness profession because health and wellness cannot be isolated. I strongly believe the health of the individual is influenced by
the health of the environment around them and vice versa. No person is an island unto themselves.
We (animals, plants and humans) are all connected in the great tapestry of life. There is no way to remain unaffected by the suffering ecosystems around us. This piece is patterned after a Utah rainbow trout, a species present in the Jordan River.
The consumption of plastics by aquatic and land animals is becoming a more apparent issue for modern humans. Not only are aquatic animals such as sea turtles, fish and birds losing their lives to ingestion of or strangulation by plastic objects, but animals vital to delicate ecosystems humans depend on are starting to suffer.
One major problem is that animals consumed by humans ingest micro-plastics that are then transferred to the flesh of the animal and, in turn, to the humans consuming them. These micro-plastic particles put humans at risk of toxic poisoning.
This topic is especially important to me as someone working in the health and wellness profession because health and wellness cannot be isolated. I received a fitness technician degree at SLCC and have worked as a Personal Trainer on campus for 2 years. I strongly believe the health of the individual is influenced by the health of the environment around them and vice versa. No person is an island unto themselves. We (animals, plants and humans) are all connected in the great tapestry of life. There is no way to remain unaffected by the suffering ecosystems around us.
This project was created out of plastic bottles, plastic bags, wire, thread and plastic silverware with transparency and layers in mind. The fish has a belly full of trash and is made of trash to show the fish has become what it eats.
The sculpture is layered to represent to complex systems that exist both within biological bodies and within ecological systems. At the center of the fish is a skeleton made of a plastic milk jug and an upcycled curtain rod. The skeleton is encased by a metal tomato cage covered with plastic soda bottles for structures. The outer covering is layers of plastic bags sewn together, representing how each issue within a system is founded on so many other layers of functioning systems. The fish was modeled after the body of a rainbow trout, a species present in the Jordan River, to demonstrate that plastic contamination is happening much closer than we may like to believe.
The human impact can no longer remain willfully veiled. We need more transparency in the way we view our own personal impact and how it affects not only us but future generations.
“We must remember that we have not inherited this planet from our parents, we have borrowed it from our children.”- Jane Goodall

 

Made of up-cycled metal, plastic bags, plastic bottles, thread and plastic forks.

Kadee Willie
We Are What We Eat.