Ari Bayuaji, Emily Hermant, Caroline Monnet, Alex Tedlie-Stursberg, Cheryl Wong | Dear Plastic

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Caroline Monnet, “Data 03,” 2023

woven roof underlayment and waterproofing membrane, 39 x 38 inches (Photo: Marie Philibert-Dubois) (courtesy of the Gallery)

The five featured artists of Dear Plastic straddle the divide between what is considered artificial versus natural in their engagement with plastic. They clearly delight in the potential of plastic as artistic material, which they reuse, repurpose, or reimagine to fashion visually arresting works. The thought-provoking pieces in this exhibition avoid a simple environmentalist stance or nostalgia for untouched landscapes. Displaying an acknowledgement of an existence shaped by plastic and an awareness of its positive and negative legacies alike, they capture the many paradoxes of plastic while provoking us to critically reflect on our irreversible enmeshment with plastic.

Caroline Monnet creates striking futuristic weavings from housing construction materials like water proofing membrane in myriad colours, textures, and patinas. These woven works build on traditional Indigenous artistic practices and motifs while condemning the lack of housing for many First Nations. Gleaning from detritus like tires and marine ropes washed up on Bali’s beaches, Ari Bayuaji reminds us that plastic does not simply disappear but continues to shape ecosystems. Emily Hermant’s use of discarded plastic-encased telecommunication wires and cables in her multihued sculptures renders visible the many existing material infrastructures and impacts of digital networks. Functioning as artefacts of “petro-time,” Alex Tedlie-Stursberg’s witty sculptures evoke how the extraction of oil has irrevocably disturbed the earth’s geological time scale and transformed vast bodies of water and land. Cheryl Wong uses the ubiquitous Hong-Kong-made red, white, and blue nylon bags for their strong symbolic and historical connection to migration—between Hong Kong and Canada, and Hong Kong and Mainland China.