Angela YT Chan 
In the frame of the exhibition SURPLUS, an exploration of natural and synthetic detritus, this workshop explored the worldwide environmental problem of plastic pollution. Focusing on recycling, the session considered the ‘What’, ‘Who’ and ‘Where’ that are affected by the consumption habits, economics and politics involved in the plastic recycling industry as part of the supply chain. Through group activities, the participants mapped the justice issues of plastic waste and what it meant to see the problem as more than an individual responsibility and one that calls for a system change.
- The impact of the West’s waste on the ecologies elsewhere on the planet
- Complexities and propaganda - how environmental impacts are used by some (more economically-developed) nations to paint a certain image of ‘developing’ countries
- The meaning behind China’s joint agreement with the UN to fight plastic pollution (In summer 2017, China announced it would stop taking the West’s waste for recycling, in a campaign against yang laji or “foreign garbage”)
- How we should not see recycling as a fix to our single-use consumption
- How to adapt to a lifestyle of re-usable materials: cut down on waste, even recyclable waste
“SURPLUS brings together artists May Hands and Sean Roy Parker in a collaborative exploration of natural and synthetic detritus. The exhibition has been conceived as a living installation where the gallery will function as a site of reflection, development and engagement on issues of sustainable practice, responding to the local Elephant & Castle environment and its residents. SURPLUS will also constitute the inaugural exhibition of new itinerant gallery The Café who will be hosted by Peak in recognition of the increasingly precarious gallery landscape in London.”
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