all colours

i was asked why i'm working with all colours of the spectrum and not just with blue representing water and green representing the mountains. the question came from a hongkong journalism student, understanding the title 垃圾山水. this is the name i've given to the land-art installations meaning trash-mountain-water in the sense of trash-landscape. to the natural elements of mountain=山 and water=水 i'm adding a third element, acutely recent and man-made: trash=垃圾. 
when painting i don't choose my colours, i paint with the colours i find on that particular beach. i paint with that which presents itself to me. you could almost say the colours find me rather than the other way around. and  ALL colours are present in the landscape:  from dark to light, from man-made to organic, from vibrant to dull, from alive to dead. the colour-wheel that i lay out is all-encompassing. there are no good or bad colours! 
i'm very humble in the presence of this all-encompassing concept seeing the smallness of my human judgements constantly criticizing this and that. my heart tells me it is much more than merely a mental concept. every time i'm connected to this all-encompassing energy i'm in awe: nature has no favourites, nature has no prejudices, nature is forever adjusting and nature always all-ways forgives. there is a yearning to learn these qualities, to find them inside myself, to be this. if we are not nature then what are we? do we still perceive ourselves as separate? these qualities are inside of us, too. it is time to go through our own inner rubbish and find those qualities that have been buried for so long. rather than learning this from the head i feel i have to be still enough, sensitive enough to see and acknowledge them inside my very being. they are longing to come out into the light and show their colours! ALL COLOURS! 

circle

垃圾山水 / trash-land-art no.6, repulse bay, hong kong 2013

my works don't last. usually they only live for a couple of hours. this is the most honest way to make art for me. it is very close to the nature of things. coming and going. rising and falling. growing and decaying. in a traditional sense art has always been about halting the wheel of time, about trying to make beauty last. a good piece of art gives the illusion to transcend the ephemerality of life. a moment in time, captured, frozen so that we may relive, refeel that same moment inside our perception, inside our reality, inside the here and now. eventually even that will go, everything will go, even the cave paintings that have lasted 35 thousand years. my works come from the opposite direction, they start at the other end. more like breathing in and breathing out, like tidal waves. trash comes with the pull of the moon. we come and see and recognize. then we collect, we curate and rearrange reality. then pause. capture and share. then we breath out, clean-up, carry the loads away. the sun sets. we go. quiet. there is always the question: is it enough? but we are too tired to answer it. not now. we're at peace. coming back a week later the beach is trashed again. press repeat: it seems to be the same beach, the same trash, the same effort. but it couldn't be more different. every installation is a story in its own. it has its own actors, time and outcome. the only constant is change. the only constant is the circle of coming and going.

'circle' installation, proposal for plasticity-forum, cascais, portugal 2015

river of rubbish / 垃圾之河

 shui hau is a very special beach in hong kong: walking along the shore line mudskippers seemingly run on top of the water and make my children scream with excitement. fiddler crabs flash their bright red claws, mangroves grow in abundance and in its shallow waters horse-shoe crabs live. horse-shoe crabs are living fossils, having been around for 450 million years. shui hau is a rich habitat for wild life and is largely ignored by tourists except nature photographers and kite-surfers.

and even though there are so few people to be seen on this beach, the human impact is overwhelming and shocking: hundred meters of shoreline are polluted with waste washed in by the last typhoon. the mangroves are covered in plastic bags and fishing ropes, looking like decorated christmas trees. in the undergrowth styrofoam boxes and their remnants are piling up knee-deep. even though i'm living just 20 minutes away from this beach i did not know about this situation until someone posted a picture on facebook. so i went and had a look myself. the first impression was that of a 'river of rubbish': the rubbish was trapped between the mangroves and the natural tree line. that in itself being awful enough the thought that all of this rubbish is usually washed back into the ocean made me feel sick. tons and tons of plastic are circling in the world oceans, poisoning waters, killing sea life and ultimately getting back into our food-chain.

as an artist i don't have a solution at hand. i only know a solution for myself, for the sickness that i feel when seeing nature being abused. and that is action. awareness. and art. it converts my anxiety and my anger into something visible and positive. it brings people and community together. it makes us feel good and heals nature. and by doing so it heals ourselves.

river of rubbish / 垃圾之河

shui hau, lantau, hong kong 2014 / 水口,大嶼山 2014

No.11 of the series trash-land-art / 「垃圾山水」系列 – 作品11 

by liina klauss 

all items on this photo are waste washed ashore. they have been collected on one single beach within 24h by 80 people. colours are neither manipulated manually nor digitally. the reality of pollution you see has merely been rearranged. 

照片展示了一堆於海灘擱淺的廢物，它們由八十位人員於一天內收集。奪目的雜物絕非製於人手，也不經電腦調色，你目睹的，是被重新排列的污染物… 你也可以把垃圾變作鮮艷河道！您每天都會消耗許多日常用品嗎？不如重建您的日常概念，改變您的購買習慣，為了更美好的香港，作出減耗的明智之舉吧！

WASTE-TO-ART INSTALLATION

Date: Friday 31st Oct.   2-5pm

Location: Shui Hau beach, Lantau

Activity: Collecting colours/waste

liina klauss is supporting Plastic Free Seas' swim challenge with an art installation: liina will be painting a huge stream of colours made entirely from waste washed ashore. Please come and join: you can help collect colours of waste, coordinate the hues and shades or directly help laying out the art work. Because of the huge dimensions of the art work we will continue and complete the installation on Saturday 1st Nov. 

Date: Saturday 1st Nov.  9am-2pm

Location: Shui Hau beach, Lantau

Waste-to-Art Installation: 9am-12pm / Photo shoot: 12-1pm / Clean-up: 1-2pm

On Saturday we will complete the installation and take pictures: please help spread the pictures on social networks so as many people as possible will get in contact with this sad reality! On Shui Hau and many of Hong Kong's beaches, we need as many helping hands as possible to clean up.

Plastic Free Seas swim challenge will have Bruce Pye and his Coach Olivier Baillet swimming 75km around Lantau Island. On Saturday 1st, their fouth day swimming, they will arrive on Shui Hau beach. Don't miss it! 

More details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/454241448047059

Please bring:

- Proper shoes (no flip-flops)
- Drinking water (minimum 2-3l per person, there's no fresh water on the beach)
- Snacks
- Hat and sunscreen

- Disinfectant

Thanks so much for your support. 

It means the world to us.

Tracey & liina

<---  Painting a beautiful picture of an ugly truth! 

On that day we'll all be painters and we'll be creating a huge stream of colours to make everyone see this reality. Don't forget your camera!














Directions: 

From Mui Wo: Bus No.1 (to Tai O) or No.2 (to Ngong Ping). 

From Tung Cheung: Bus No.11 (to Tai O) or No.23 (to Ngong Ping). 

Tell the bus driver you want to get off at "Shui Hau Wan beach" or "kite-surfing beach" and follow the signs from there.

double-click map to enlarge

catch-of-the-day at PIF2014

"catch of the day" or "floating polke-dots" is part of pangkor island festival 2014 (PIF2014) bringing art, awareness and action to this small on the west coast of malaysia. the installation is made entirely from waste found on beaches of the island. the artist liina klauss is raising awareness for the problem of marine pollution. "most of the waste comes from residents themselves" liina says, "and this is not a problem that only exists on pangkor: this is a global problem and it has taken on horrifying proportions."

with the help of pangkor residents as well as volunteers from all over asia, liina has been cleaning-up beaches on the island to find materials needed for floating her installation. "we bought nothing to make the art piece" one of the volunteers says,"all is taken from the beach or borrowed by the neighbours!" the process of making art from nothing brings people into direct contact with pollution like marine debris. by collecting found materials, cleaning them, sorting them by colour and transforming them into an installation see, touch and experience a problem physically. as liina says: "what you touch, touches you", meaning that by physically helping to clean-up change is happening not only on the outside, but also on the inside. this said, the art-making process is an integral part of the installation and as important as the result itself. by integrating the local community the residents come in direct contact with the effects of their behaviour and the impact it has on nature, on wildlife and on the community. 

during an artist talk held during her one week stay on pangkor island, liina shared facts about marine pollution and her environmental activism, giving residents a chance to grasp the consequences and global dimensions of marine pollution. liina's art encourages people to deal with problems in a creative and collaborative way. "seeing and recognizing the problem is the first step towards taking action!" liina says. 
(text taken from the press release for PIF2014)

more photos and stories on www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.573255786131128.1073741835.454668841323157&type=3

'floating polka-dots' for PIF2014

pulau pangkor is a tiny island off the west coast of malaysia, a 4h-drive away from kuala lumpur. the island of only 8km² was well known for its beautiful beaches two decades back but has been forgotten since, one reason being the pollution of nature and waters. this pollution is mainly caused by the residents themselves. to change mind-set and behaviour PIF2014 invited me to do an environmental installation at PIF2014. 'floating polka-dots' will be my first ocean-art installation ever - so exciting!

this year's pangkor island festival has a focus on environmental art and education. "By inviting artists to the island, it not only encourages interaction amongst Pangkorians, but also fosters new interaction between locals and artists, thus adding a new dimension to the livelihood of Pangkor communities. Pangkor Island Festival aspires to integrate community culture, history and folklore with local tourism, highlight the best of Pangkor’s unique local delicacies as well as its touristic and scenic attractions. It will be a grand celebration where both Pangkorians and visitors are welcome to join in the fun!" (quote from www.pangkorislandfestival.com)

the land-art installation that i'm planing for PIF is 'floating polka-dots'. from far away it will look like colourful circles floating in the water. coming closer people will notice that these circles are actually made from marine debris. 

photoshop montage for 'floating polka-dots' 2014,  pangkor island, malaysia

i've been working with ocean debris since 2011 using it as medium and color palette. up to now i have been doing land-art installations directly on the beach. 'floating polka-dots' will be the first installation actually situated in the ocean. apart from being new and exciting this is very meaningful to me. all of the waste that i work with has been in the ocean, sometimes for decades. most of this waste is plastic and since plastic never goes away, we have millions of tons of plastic debris accumulating in our oceans (www.coastalcare.org/2009/11/plastic-pollution). with 'floating polka-dots' i'm showing the impact of our human behaviour on the oceans. it is a grave reminder to be sensitive to the waters that surround us and not to pollute.

i'm often asked why i'm doing what i'm doing. in the broadest sense i'm inspired by nature. i love being outdoors, exposed to the elements and surrounded by the beauty of wilderness. the fragrance of a blossom, the force of salty winds from the sea, the joy of fresh green, the calm when the sun goes down, all of these are most valuable moments for me. seeing the left-overs of our consumerist society and its fatal implications in this pristine environment makes me feel ashamed, sick and angry all at the same time. i want to wake up the world and take action right away!

saying that, it's quite a different feeling when i'm on the beach, creating an art piece. i usually don't listen too much to that critical voice. it can make me quite depressed. immersed in the creative process, i see the world the way a child might see it. looking at rubbish this way, i perceive colors and shapes. i see value and potential within these materials: endless possibilities of rearranging them, combining them into new shapes and forms, into stories that no one has heard before, pictures no one has seen before. aren't these discarded objects are a mirror of our society? of our desires, our conveniences,of our selfishness and of our ignorance. 

my art installations give me the chance to hold a mirror in front of our consumerist society so we may see our mistakes and change them. and so we may see the beauty of nature and love, enjoy and preserve it! combining these two aspects by unifying criticism and awareness is what my art is about.

apart from doing a land-art installation (or should i call it ocean-art installation:) i will be sharing my experiences of working with waste within nature on monday night. for details please visit www.pangkorislandfestival.com/系列活動/分享會/sharing-session-linna-klauss/

i'm very much looking forward to the creative process and the collaboration with PIF! let's see what the oceans bring us!

lost'n'found at ocean park hong kong

 talking about mainstream: with over 20,000 visitors per day ocean park hong kong is one of the 7 most popular theme parks worldwide. the park states to provide 'unique experiences that combine entertainment with education and conservation'. as a visitor i always felt that this credo disappears under the mass of entertainment and amusement attractions and the commercialization of animals and nature. for the first time now, not being a visitor but a contributor to these experiences, i'm getting a different angle to this picture. working within the educational department i can see their efforts of bringing awareness, knowledge and conservation approaches into the park. talking about oceans these days is not only amusement! displaying an installation like lost'n'found shows their willingness to confront visitors with the threatening human impacts on the oceans. it is a couragious step away from a generalized, partial and romantisized  perception of the complex marine eco-system!

lost'n'found is part of ocean park's 'blue matters' campaign addressing the problem of marine pollution, over-fishing and marine biodiversity in hong kong. to all of these problems solutions are on hand: ocean park is now only serving sustainable seafood at its restaurants, the ocean park conservation foundation (www.opcf.org.hk) is monitoring species in hongkong waters and trained staff is raising awareness of the negative impacts of plastic packaging. the volume of plastic packaging at the park is reduced by replacing single-use plastic packaging with bio-degradable packaging at all stalls (coming into effect this year) and promoting water fountains to refill your water bottle. this 3-year campaign is a step in the right direction, with a huge impact on over 20,000 hongkongers and mainland chinese each day. from this angle mainstream also means a great chance!

lost'n'found is located directly in front of the old-hongkong-road on your way up to the cable car. you can't miss it. the waste-pai-dong will be on display all through july and august 2014 and is open every day from 10am-5:30pm. 

this is the text on the panel:
"It took one single day, one single beach and one group of motivated people to collect all the rubbish you see in this hawker-stall. It was collected on a beach in South Country Park on Lantau Island, Hong Kong. Every single piece you see here has been in the ocean, sometimes for years, before it got washed ashore. The colours are neither altered manually nor digitally. 
Plastic lasts forever! Day by day, year by year, decade by decade plastic is accumulating in the oceans. All sea creatures, from tiny plankton to gigantic whales, are suffering the consequences. They get trapped, strangeled, poisoned and suffer fatal injuries internally as well as externally. These creatures pay for our convenience. Please be aware that plastic lasts forever when you buy your next plastic bottle. 
You are responsible for the choices you make! 
You can make a difference right now by refilling your water-bottle at one of our drinking-water-fountains! Please refer to the guide-map for locations.
Renowned German-born Hong Kong artist liina klauss adopts her signature style of using local beach rubbish and found natural materials to create environmental installations. Gathering a community of volunteers she creates temporary installation on beaches worldwide. Her installations raise awareness for the beauty of nature, for the impact we humans have on it and for the human potential to turn something ugly into something beautiful. 
Through her art liina redefines the value we give waste on an aesthetic as well as on an intrinsic level."

p.s. more recent pictures of lost'n'found in ocean park on facebook.com/artofliinaklauss

waste mountain water / 垃圾山水 in taiwan

'waste mountain water / 垃圾山水 no.9', 2014, jialeshuei beach, taiwan

this is the first art installation that i have done outside of hong kong. it is located on a beautiful beach in kenting national park on the southern tip of taiwan. when i inspected the beach prior to the art installation, i was doubting we'd find enough man-made waste to fill up the whole colour spectrum. sadly enough we did. with the help of over 30 passionate art activists, we painted an area of about 10 square meters with all colours of the rainbow: fishing nets, single-use plastic bottles, boots, shades, straws, a toilet seat... the list is infinite. most of the trash was trapped within rocks and vegetation and not visible on first sight. compared to hong kong there is definitely less trash per square meter on this beach, yet the findings are almost identical: predominantly light-weight plastic. 

some of the found objects i recognized from hong kong. asking if these things were sold in taiwan the activists negated. another bottle still had its origins 'made in the phillipines' printed on it. in my hands i am holding proof of this simple yet horrible truth: warm ocean currents carry plastic waste from south-east-asia towards the north. some of this waste gets washed ashore on beaches like this one in southern taiwan, the rest travels on to the north pacific where it accumulates in a gyre. gathering toxins and breaking down into ever smaller pieces, these pieces are eaten by fish and other sea-creatures. tiny micro-plastics are eaten by plankton. apart from polluting our oceans and threatening wildlife, this man-made material enters the food chain! for more scientific information please visit www.5gyres.org

often i get asked 'what can i do?' and i say 'start with yourself!' in this colour-wheel like in so many other installations that i've done, the single-use water bottles take up almost a fifth of the space. we can eliminate these convenient yet all-polluting PET bottles: bring your own! it might be a tiny action, but if a couple of million people all do the same, it has a huge impact (as we can see in its negative!!).

in the face of so many horrifying facts, i am yet again grateful to meet amazing people who want to help and be part of the solution. to each and everyone who came on that hot day, picking up trash, sorting, sweating, abandoning the surf-board (how hard is that!), playing, taking pictures, and even using the installation for a bonfire: this is not possible without you! you are the ones who spread the message further! my heartfelt gratitude to you. thank you.

i want to especially thank claire from bossa-nova-beach-cafe for organizing this event: you are not only an excellent cook but also an extremely talented event manager! thanks also to la benida for her enthusiasm, help and hospitality: we felt like part of the family!
a big thank you also to society of wilderness (www.sow.org.tw), kenting national park (www.ktnp.gov.tw), kuroshio ocean foundation (www.kuroshio.org.tw) and environmental information association (www.e-info.org.tw) for their support.

more coverage on http://e-info.org.tw/node/99716
and http://news.ltn.com.tw/news/life/breakingnews/1020868

last weekend for lost'n'found at stanley!

lost'n'found opens its colours for the last time this weekend, 3rd & 4th of may at the waterfront promenade in stanley. i will be there saturday and sunday from 11am - 5pm to sign your personal piece of lost'n'found. it would be lovely to see you there...

 published in the column 《優哉游Joy》 by "Joyce Yau" in the feature page of Sing Tao Daily 星島日報 on Apr. 19th 2014

here is a little read from sing tao daily 星島日報, published last week (translation might be a bit awkward, but hopefully better than google translate): 

Stanley is a great place to visit during your holidays: Families with their kids and dogs stroll around and the atmosphere is warm and relaxed.

Stanley Promenade has always been a good place to display art. Currently Ocean Art Walk is showcased along the promenade, an extremely attractive exhibition.

The six installations are outstanding in terms of their visual and conceptual message.  When I approached the exhibition space, the first installation that caught my eye was the “garbage booth”. At first glance it looks like some beautifully decorated hawker stall. Paying closer attention to details, I discovered that these pretty decorations are plastic slippers, old toys and flattened plastic bottles, each labeled with a price tag saying "awareness” or “responsibility”. German artist Liina Klauss passionately shares her concept to raise awareness about pollution of our oceans, about non-degradable plastic waste, about reflecting upon our modern-day lifestyle and habits and their impact on mother nature.

Living on Lantau Island, Liina loves nature and has never averted her eyes from the massive loads of rubbish washed ashore.  She "curates" the beach and turns waste into art. For this current installation she first cleaned all the rubbish she collected, then organized it into a colour sequence, and finally put it into a traditional hawker stall. The audience is first captured by the colourful appearance and only later realizes the sad message behind her work. By singing your promise to love the ocean you may take a piece of the installation home, complete with the signature of the artist.

Other artists use old plastic bottles, CDs and plastic objects to make art installations.  Visitors capture all these in their lens, appreciating and reflecting upon the artists different methods of transferring an environmental messages. I hope that everyone will take home some food for thought about our oceans and our daily life connection to it.

On that opening day I also enjoyed young dancers under the guide of HK Youth Arts Foundation, expressing endangered ocean life through dance and choreography. So with the Easter Holiday ahead, please take the time to enjoy the art installations and performances at Stanley and don’t forget to make an effort to save our beautiful ocean!

lost'n'found / 垃圾排檔

lost'n'found / 垃圾排檔 at stanley plaza, hongkong, 2014

lost'n'found / 垃圾排檔 (detail) at stanley plaza, hongkong, 2014 

interactivity between visitors and waste. at lost'n'found / 垃圾排檔 hongkong, 2014 

ocean art walk opens today!

ocean art walk opens today!

please drop by in stanley anytime between 11:00-16:00

if you still need more convincing here is an interview on radio3 rthk that was on air last tuesday (listen from 48:oo mins.)

http://programme.rthk.hk/channel/radio/player_popup.php?pid=5979&eid&d=2014-04-08&player=mp3&type=archive&channel=radio3

dates: 12 april – 4 may
the artist will be present on the opening weekend and on 3./4.may
venue: stanley plaza
free dance performances: 13, 19 and 20 april (12pm, 2pm and 4pm)
free guided tours: 13, 19, 20, 26, 27 April, 3, 4 may (11am, 1pm), pre-registration required at yan@hkyaf.com
enquiries: 2877 2779

an installation for ocean art walk 2014

this year ocean art walk is in its second year here in hong kong and will be held at stanley promenade from 12th april to 4th may. the event initiated by ocean recovery alliance and hk youth art foundation raises awareness for our oceans through visual arts and performance arts. the art walk features sculptures and installations, a photography collection and a series of dance performances.

this is what i'll be contributing: an installation called 'lost'n'found' or '垃圾排檔', literally meaning 'waste hawker stall'. the stall is filled entirely with waste washed ashore and collected on hong kong beaches. from afar this stall will look attractive. coming closer you will notice that the objects 'for sale' are actually broken toys, twigs, old shoes, leaves, plastic bottles etc. the entire stall and its contents is made from found objects and reclaimed materials.

take a closer look: each of the found objects is labeled with a price tag, which does not state a number in dollars but a mental state, e.g. 'awareness' 'responsibility' or 'wonder'. to ‘buy’ these objects, visitors will be asked to offer their own definitions of these concepts. 

i'll be present at the stall on the first and last weekend (12./13.april, 3./4.may, 11:oo-16:oo). please come along during these days to acquire your very own piece of 'lost'n'found', complete with the signature of the artist.
looking forward to seeing you there:)

all events are free, with guided tours offered on saturdays and sundays at 11am and 1pm.
dance performances will take place on 12 april at 2.30pm and on 13, 19 and 20 april at 12pm, 2pm and 4pm.
registration is required for tours: 2877 2779 / yan@hkyaf.com

for more info please visit hkyaf.com/projects/VA/2014/OceanArtWalk2014/eng/
and hkyaf.com/projects/VA/2014/OAW2014danceNtour/eng/

the second that changes everything

detail of chinese landscape / 垃圾山水 No.8 (2014) 

a friend asked me the other day if I was 'lab sab po', a 'trash lady'. it made me laugh. but actually this is a serious question and the offensiveness of the term shows our lack of appreciation for waste. waste is not waste; we declare it to be 'waste' 'rubbish' 'trash'. but it is still what it is: a plastic bottle, a broken branch, a paper cup... the moment the plastic bottle slips out of my hand, its terminology changes from a desirable, advertised, prized object to something apprehended as useless and worthless. from something convenient, nice, something we might even identify with, to something disgusting, repulsive, untouchable. in this split second the perception of this object completely changes. the bottle is still the bottle. but the value we give it has shifted. what are we thinking? are we thinking? i don't get my head around this...

for more updates about my work go to https://www.facebook.com/artofliinaklauss

waste water / 垃圾水

waste water / 垃圾水 (2013). reclaimed bottle caps in drainage. an installation for micro galleries .

FRESH PRINTS OUT NOW

"I am as much a painter as I am an environmental activist. Being on a beach not only means seeing waste, but also means seeing color. Broken Dreams No.1 consists of 518 broken down pieces, man-made and natural side by side. These pieces are color coordinated and combined to make a bigger whole. It is the conflict between a single piece of waste, perceived as ugly, and the sum of color, perceived as being the opposite, as being beautiful which fascinates me. Logic can not understand this contradiction in perception and value: Is it still waste? When does it start to be beautiful? Is it worthy now? Hasn't it been worthy all along? A lot of questions that need answers … a lot of questions that we have the answer to if we see the bigger picture."

This picture shows details of the print. For whole image see blog entry 'broken dreams no.1' 

"Broken Dreams No.1", 2013
Dimensions: 40 x 40 cm (image size) 60 x 80 cm (paper size)
Medium: numbered pigment print in a limited edition of 20

hand-signed with original chop, unframed 

$280.00 USD

Price does not include shipping costs. 

Printed on heavy, archival Hahnemühle bamboo paper (290gsm) with pigment inks that produce vivid color with strong precision and detail. The inks are both water & UV resistant.

Purchasing Info:  50% of net proceeds from the sale of these prints will be donated to Plastic Free Seas (http://plasticfreeseas.org) as part of projectvortex.org

If interested please email liinaklauss@gmail.com

broken dreams no.1

"Arranged. We were gathering small pieces of plastic on a beach in Hong Kong for a really brilliant artist, Liina Klauss. We sorted plastic by color and then she picked out the pieces that she will integrate into her work. I was overwhelmed by the activity in many ways; I've become somewhat desensitized to seeing plastic on beaches because it's so much of what I witness in my work. But this was different, all of the sudden we had made an order to it, classifying the plastic by color, and seeing it there, in a taxonimic, bastard rainbow, assaulted my senses, filling me with an immense woe. I was compelled to write my feelings down at the beach. I felt powerless; I felt that all my victories on policy were not doing anything, ultimately - and I've been the driving force in a lot of victories. This reaction nowadays is rare for me. My life is going to exotic places and looking at garbage, so why all of the sudden so sensitive again? It felt like I was looking at a transmogrified version of aesthetic order. It's this very feeling - the bearing witness to sensual data filtered through the laws of natural aesthetic law and plastic's incongruent position therein, which compelled me to quit my job and fight to keep it out of the environment as my life's purpose. Now, several years later, I'm often mired by the politics and pettiness, and the inadequacy of industry response, the nature humans to schism and factionalize in social and environmental movements that often fills my day, working on this issue. I thank Liina for returning me to the purity of the moment I once had on a beach in Oregon many years ago now. This experience invigorates and confirms that the steps I take on this path to relieve our oceans of this plight, footprint by footprint will form a path, a path towards solving this horrible issue. I have become erudite on the science of this subject out of necessity; but my soul is that of an artist, and it's this vantage that affects the life choices I make. Witnessing another human's intuition and ability to portray this internal struggle I have, who is ultimately a stranger (I just met her) makes me feel that I'm not alone. And common purpose and camaraderie are really the only things that give humanity the courage to fight for what's right."

Words by the surfer, sailor, writer, eco-nerd, ocean lover, plastic pollustion fighter Stiv Wilson from 5gyres.org, who I was so honored to meet during the Plastic Free Seas Youth Conference 2013 www.plasticfreeseas.org and during curating a beach, where he was inspired to write the above. Thank you Stiv! I feel so humbled by your words.

encyclopedic works: a system of colours

squares of colour

which i paint earnestly, patiently, repeated

one of top of each other

colour coordinates in an intuitive grid

spontaneous at first

then more and more conscious

of the interdependance, the correlations and effects 

each colour has upon the other

constructs, towers, bridges

as if playing with building blocks 

different hues, tones and textures

my attempt to sort the infinite