“Growing up in a Polish family we called my grandfather Dziadzu, and my Dziadzu fixed clocks. As a child I was fascinated by this unique passion and how his hands could make something broken function again. I loved Dziadzu, but for many years I was unable to comprehend his many humbling qualities beyond the clocks. This began to change as I grew older and aspects of his character and passions began to reveal themselves in myself. Now it is all too obvious that I am my Dziadzu’s granddaughter. My attention to detail, my need to build, and my desire to fix not only things, but also people, all come from him.
Dziadzu passed away last spring just as I was beginning to appreciate our relationship and understand this deeper connection. Dziadzu was there all along, and yet I became mature enough to notice once our time had run out. Now that I am aware I wish I had more time to explore our relationship together. Instead, I turn to our commonalities, and build things with my hands that help me to discover our connection in his absence.”
"Earlier this week I went to the grocery store. Like every other shopping trip I brought my reusable shopping bag. I only planned on buying a few things, so I brought only one. At the cash register I was disappointed to find that everything I bought would not fit in the bag. The cashier wanted to put the eggs and the potato chips in a plastic bag. I reluctantly agreed. Then I proceeded to watch the cashier double bag the eggs before putting them into the bag with the chips. One shopping trip, three plastic shopping bags, and another failed attempt at reducing my plastic bag consumption.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. consumes an estimated 100 billion single-use plastic shopping bags annually. Out of those 100 billion, how many do you think you used? Through The Plastic Bag Project I aim to bring awareness to the growing plastic bag pandemic by sculpturally illustrating my personal plastic bag consumption over the course of one year. I cannot begin to wrap my head around what 100 billion plastic bags looks like. My vision is that through this project I will be able to create a physical representation of one ordinary women’s contribution to the country’s distribution and use of single-use plastic shopping bags."