Xavier Mica-Hawkyard

My influences specifically focused on ocean plastics and how our waters are being negatively impacted upon by our own production. 8 million tons of plastic enter the ocean every year and cause damage at every level; large pieces of plastic often damaging sea life or killing them. There has been a great amount of research into what happens when plastics breakdown into extremely small pieces called microplastics. These microplastics are coming back through the food chain and negatively affecting us, the consumers.

After some refinement I made a series of conical shapes made from plastic. I created multiples to represent the magnitude of the problem and with the help of lighting and water photographed them to resemble icicles. I named the final piece “Frozen in Time” because of the piece’s visual similarity to ice, but more importantly because almost all plastic that has ever been produced is still around since the day it was made.