Maria Konstanse Bruun: Plastmosis

14 jun 20194 jul 2019

The exhibition Plastmosis consist of a series of photographic self-portraits and installations with found plastic objects. In the carefully staged self-portraits, the artist’s physical body is juxtaposed with plastic objects that have found their way into the artists home but plays no significant role to the artist or anyone in her family. The pairing of the plastic objects with the physical body suggest an uncanny violation of the artist’s body, questioning the uncertain nature of the boundaries and the power balance between the physical self and the artificial material society we are part of. Plastic in this instance can be read as a symbol of the times we live in.

The artist is interested in the idea that something so seemingly insignificant is becoming significant in its magnitude. We now know that our excessive consumption of goods, such as plastic, and our creation of waste products has come back to haunt us; not only is it invading and threatening the natural environment that we are dependent on for our livelihood, as well as our homes as the artist has experienced, but accumulation of nano and micro plastics through the food chain means that plastic is entering our bodies and becoming part of our physical being as well.

The name Plastmosis is created by the artist through merging the words plastic and osmosis. Osmosis is a process where two sides are trying to even each other out to create a balance. The process of breaking plastic down into smaller and smaller pieces can be seen as nature’s attempt to balance out this waste product. We’ve learnt that it doesn’t actually go away, resulting in us being forced to take part in this balancing process through letting these products enter our bodies; resulting in undefined boundaries between us and our physical environment, our plastic environment. We are ingesting our own waste and, as the artist sees it; to some extent becoming our own waste product.

Kilde: Renata Maiblum Gallery