STATEMENT

Due to mistranslations regarding its properties, plastic is seen as single-use. This mistranslation is useful to its cause.

Plastic is a material full of queer linguistic contradictions unlike any other. It is abject in one way, as it can be a byproduct of consumption, a bit like shit. It is also glistening, alluring, and infinite, not like shit. Drawing from Landy’s work Break Down¹, prostheses are attempts at displaying the infiniteness of my waste material – oppositely to Landy’s display of the finiteness of his treasured possessions. These two vibrant and glistening woven loops do not begin and end in any one place, and they begin to re-organise from waste to almost-something.

re fuse is a stop motion video that attempts to bring movement to this idea. The video is an endless loop, where scrunched-up, pixellated waste scrolls sluggishly and then unfurls to reveal its identity. As my work is extremely material-oriented, this digital format did not best embody the purpose of my practice. From this, I gathered that the digital should be used with caution, better used as support to a more tangible element.

Le Guin’s essay The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction², which reframes the origins of humanity from tool/weapon to bag/container, has been influential in my work. In painting series [plastic] bag theory, I attempted to remove the bags from all contexts, viewing them as something more spiritual than simply ‘containers’. The process of painting within the crinkling language of plastic helped manifest a multi-sensory appreciation of the material, which I have carried forward into sonic, tactile, and visual aspects of my practice.

My practice has led me to an intrigue into the queer productivity of the Plastisphere, where new forms of life emerge from the cultural plastic. This natureculture I believe is best exemplified by the Plastiglomorate – a type of rock that forms around pieces of plastic. From this, I constructed a plastiglomorate sculpture, proportional to the dimensions of my body, and thus allowing me to physically enter this natureculture. Constructed from papier mâché and plastic waste found in the art department, the work became akin to Beuy’s idea of landfill as ‘democratic social sculpture’³. Intended from conception as a site for performance, displaying the piece without this performative element at KAOS forced me to consider how else to bring this object to life. Here, I chose to add spews of material, imagining how this rock could ooze like a body. I wasn’t totally satisfied with the staging of this work, believing it would look better in a more immersive environment.

Entering the sculpture for my SCRUNCH/BEND/MELT performance, I scripted a monologue half adapted from Davis’s essay Toxic Progeny⁴, and half from strange dreams I had been having at the time. The installation aspect was based on the surreal narrative of this script. Working with a camp and humorous tone that I find appealing, I believe that SCRUNCH/BEND/MELT was the best at achieving what I wanted to convey with my practice, and I am aiming to take from the successes of this work with my Degree Show performance.

Revisiting the sensory experience of plastic after re-reading Lorde’s The Master’s Tools…⁵, I had a clearer understanding of the sensual or erotic experience as a radical, intersectional act. With yukyum, I attempted to demonstrate the eroticism of plastic, intending for people to walk through the work and feel the softness of plastic on the skin. yukyum also had a two-channel audio element, with one speaker playing eating noises and the other playing plastic sounds, opening to others my desire to enter a natureculture dynamic. Due to the placement and size of the piece, the work failed to be inviting for individuals to walk through, thus failing at its multi-sensory aims. To combat this tentativeness, I am aiming to be more expansive with my Degree Show installation, placing aspects both within and beyond the bounds of the main space that the work will occupy.

Inside my brain, inside your brain, there is seven grams worth of plastic; enough to make a spoon. This brainspoon is useful to our cause.

1. Landy, Michael. Break Down. 2001. Performance and Installation. London. 499 Oxford St.
2. Le Guin, Ursula K. The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction. 1st ed. 1988. Reprint, UK: Ignota, 2019.
3. Jackson, Shannon. “High Maintenance: The Sanitation Aesthetics of Mierle Laderman Ukeles.” In Social Works: Performing Art, Supporting Publics, 75–103. London: Routledge, 2011.
4. Davis, Heather. “Toxic Progeny: The Plastisphere and Other Queer Futures.” Philosophia 5, no. 2 (June 1, 2015): 231–50. https://doi.org/10.1353/phi.2015.a608469.
5. Lorde, Audre. The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House. 1984. Reprint, London: Penguin Books, 2018.

LARA

BEASLEY

DEGREE SHOW yukyum SCRUNCH/BEND/MELT plastiglomorate [plastic] bag theory re fuse prostheses

STATEMENT

BIBLIOGRAPHY

plastiglomorate (2024)

DEGREE SHOW

yukyum

SCRUNCH/BEND/MELT

plastiglomorate

[plastic] bag theory

re fuse

prostheses