Swell (2021)

​"Plastic Pollution is a relic of both industry and the commodities of consumerism, beginning superficially, ending often far from its creation, and transformed into something far more sinister. Swell visualizes the natural occurrence of lake and ocean swells, constructed with the plastic Pollution of the capitalocene. Swells can traverse thousands of miles before their life cycles come to crested completion. As a swell gathers and overcomes the spaces it occupies, so do our commodities, purposefully or not, until the force is insurmountable. Plastic turned Pollution affects every environment it invades in its journey from commodity to the trash and can take hundreds to thousands of years to break down.

Plastic Pollution is only one of many issues we face as a species in combating climate change. It is an issue that highlights the waste of corporate power and their propagandizing of pushing environmental responsibility to individuals rather than themselves. To reject extinction, we must first begin to question consumerism." - Alexis Oltmer

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Swell was installed at the SMALLBANY GALLERY from October 31 - November 6, 2021