Katherine Boland, Altar #3 (PLACES 2022)

Microplastic particles can be found everywhere on the planet. In drinking water and food, in deep seas and remote deserts and mountains, they threaten both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. For the first time, microplastic particles have been detected in human blood and in the lungs of living people. The unnatural chemical compositions of this petrochemical consumer waste will outlive us for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. This work, made during a visit to the Mimosa Rocks National Park on the Far South Coast of New South Wales, depicts a plastic cling wrap altar which speaks to our consumeristic veneration of convenience and disposability over the beauty and bounty of the natural world.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.