The Poetics of Trash

This practice-led research is situated at the margins of human perception and the materiality of trash. I argue that trash has been culturally constructed to be marginalized, if not completely invisible, contributing to its denial and proliferation. My site-specific approach investigates trash and spatial ruin sites, seeking out the potentiality of the materiality by employing the media of sculpture, video, photography and assemblage. The Poetics of Trash is comprised of three artworks: a slow-motion video of a discarded industrial waste, a monumental pile of trash brought into the gallery, and back-lit photographs of hyper-detailed images of trash. By deploying the artistic strategies of immersion, gilding and juxtaposition, I subvert the binaries clearing a space for the viewer to reconceptualise trash and ruminate on back-end production. This thesis provides a critical analysis of garbage through contemporary theoretical discourse while revealing the contributions of artistic practice to re-imagining the possibilities of garbage