UNITED WASTE OF AMERICA
“United Waste of America” tapestry was made from plastic bags and other plastic waste. A map of each state was woven and separately connected using plastic “threads” cut from garbage bags.
I feel very fortunate to have worked on this project with the talented students at Northport High School and their amazing teacher, Robin O'Neil Gonzales. When we started the project school protocols restricted me from being in the school, so we used Zoom where I made a number of presentations about Navajo weaving and showed students history of Native American Crafts.
Each student was assigned one or more states and some of the bigger states had two or more people. Most of the students were very responsible and finished their state understanding that the success of the whole project was depending on everyone doing their part. After the long quarantine, most of the kids were happy to be at school, but interestingly even some of them who decided to continue classes via Zoom happily participated in the project.
The map of America was enlarged by the projector and each state was traced. We used big and sturdy cardboard to string the yarns for the base of the tapestry and used strips of plastic bags to weave. For big states, two frames were made by students and we used clothing racks for middle size states.
After all of the states were completed we connected all 50 together by sewing with strips of black garbage bags and reinforced the back of the tapestry with tape. Many different kinds of colorful plastic caps, straws, and beads were used to call out detail and capitals of the states.
Through this project, "The United Waste of America", we hope to bring attention to the catastrophic amount of waste our society creates and to raise awareness of the need to treat our world better before it is too late.
