Ana Maria Surdu
Statement
Microplastics have become a component of our water, soil, and organisms and they are an unquestionable intervention in our present geologic period. How will this be recorded by our knowledge and history institutions? How will our Holocene land-fields be represented in the geologic stratigraphic samples? As trilobites were the markers of the Cambrian rock formation, will bottle caps become the alternative stratigraphic marker of our Quaternary period?
My work presents small environs made up from organic replicas in ceramic and glass and the found materiality on various West Cork beaches. These environmental art pieces are an investigation of visual mutations. Curious combinations are presented where mass-produced objects washed by the sea deviously mingle with wonders which belong to the domain of Nature. Appropriating the scientific methods of a natural history museum, the illusory blends between organic and inorganic are labelled and archived. The conflicting materiality displayed in lit cabinets of curiosities (Wunderkammer) or the use of environmental photography, challenge the viewer’s perception as the divide between Naturalia and Artificialia trick the eye.