The Garbage Sculptures Project

These Photos Are Garbage

The Anthropocene, c’est nous. Our immense impact on the planet is both political and personal. Evidence of this is the massive amounts of waste that are now found in and damage every aspect of the environment.

I’ve long been intrigued by our relationship to the waste that we create. I’m particularly intrigued by the waste I see in public, and the waste that seems to have been placed in a very conscious way.

I’m interested in how people manipulate waste on the streets and in public places. Doing this is an act of creation and expression. These garbage sculptures, as I think of them, are a form of public artwork; the use of garbage to put a personal mark in a shared environment, similar to graffiti but much more transitory.

In a time of increasing corporatization and privatization of public spaces, garbage sculptures are a means to reclaim and personalize space. Humans are fundamentally creative–using trash to express that creativity is a symbol of the Anthropocene.