Marissa Woods

I chose to center my piece around conservation, which is extremely important to me. I am a U of M sustainability ambassador and constantly seek ways to be environmentally friendly. I wanted to focus this piece on the human relationship to how we pollute the environment. I wanted to show in my artwork how by polluting the planet, humans are really just harming themselves. I represented this by hand-sewing a human head and placing it in the middle of the garbage. I chose to create an expression of almost shock or disgust in the man’s head as he sits in the center. I want the head to be the primary focus of the work. This garbage has been sourced from entirely recycled materials. These are materials that I have used the contents of and saved over time. The entire piece is recyclable when it no longer has a use. The work is mixed media, with many different components. There are recycled boxes, bottles, straw wrappers, fabrics, yarns, etc. I used cardboard to create the garbage can. Throughout my process, I chose not to use a lot of supplies based on their level of sustainability. For example, I did not want to incorporate acrylic paint into my work because it is primarily made of plastics, which do not decompose over time. I chose to fill the head with scrap fabric instead of new stuffing. Stuffing is usually also plastic. I want to bring awareness to the concept of sustainability as well as the environmental impact that humans are creating. In order to do this, I feel as if I need to be practicing sustainability in my own processes. The process in a way becomes a huge part of the artwork itself.