Trash Talk

Arianna Richardson lays waste to comfortable habits with art made from plastic.

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Entering the gallery, I remove my shoes and place them on a polyethylene boot mat before striding across a span of AstroTurf to flop down on an immense crocheted ottoman containing five years’ worth of plastic waste. Stretching out, I am held in the dazzling embrace of the Anthropocene – courtesy of Lethbridge artist Arianna Richardson’s ongoing quest to understand humanity’s all-too copious consumption.

Surface All the Way Through, on at Casa Lethbridge until June 4, is comprised entirely of plastic items that Richardson has thrifted and upcycled. The massive tuffet I am lying on is itself comprised of materials recycled from previous works cheekily titled Hobbyist Brand Trash Chairs and Hobbyist Brand Collect-o-Cube.

Operating under the Hobbyist pseudonym, Richardson works in a variety of media, skilfully appropriating the tactics of mass-marketing to critique the consumerist culture of Western society. Her practice also includes socially engaged durational performances influenced by the important work of American artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles in the 1970s. 

Drawing in viewers with bright colours and charming kitsch, she gently sets up deeper discussions about neoliberalism and corporate control of social structures without drowning her audience in dense theory. Leaning into craftivist techniques pioneered by feminist artists like Betsy Greer, her work is highly relatable and easily accessible to a broad range of people.

With glittery catchphrases like “I Want It All” and “More For Less,” Richardson’s soft heart-shaped sculptures contain thousands of shiny micro-garbage flecks painstakingly made from chip bags and other disposable packaging. These handcrafted objects seduce with their sparkle, but prompt further contemplation when you realize how they are made.

Richardson uses the same tactics as ruthless corporate marketers. But rather than selling a product, she asks us to reconsider our role as consumers. The pithy catchphrase “Can’t Care Won’t Care” is overlaid on a cellophane pear wrapper delicately woven with gold tinsel, a thoughtful use of baffling materials. Such throwaway lines are apt critiques for a society of disposable spectacles. 

In questioning her own relationship to consumerism and waste, Richardson invites visitors to do likewise in a disarming way. As I float comfortably on the exhibition’s central work, I am not a passive viewer, but an active body implicated in capitalist systems that encourage thoughtless consumption rather than care for the natural environment. 

Looking up at colourful pendants dangling from the ceiling, I think of fantastical jellyfish. While some are clearly made from tinsel, tassels, baubles and beads, closer inspection reveals they also incorporate discarded packaging, bicycle reflectors and string from weed whackers.

This is the trick that Richardson employs so well – tantalizing you into amusement that slowly fizzles into a material consideration of the immense problems we face. One minute I’m dazzled, the next I’m disgusted. While lazing comfortably on a massive pile of waste, I find myself wondering how much plastic I have sent downstream, to the ocean, in my lifetime.

Nearby, a vase of flowers rests on a plinth. They too are made from plastic, carefully folded from discarded food packaging and other waste materials. While a cynic might interpret these flowers as an elegy to our warming world, they also evoke optimism. If we can see the patterns of consumption Richardson reflects back at us, perhaps there’s still time to change. ■

Arianna Richardson: Surface All the Way Through at Casa Lethbridge in Alberta from April 16 to June 4, 2022. 

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