Plastic Specimen is constructed to become an instillation of a hovering whale, showing the underlying reality of its life covered in plastic trash thrown to the sea. This idea was formulated by research on sperm whales who have died from consuming 80 pounds or more of plastic. The pollution sits in their stomachs, and attaches onto them for weeks and even months. The material I will use is all plastic: plastic 3d print of a sperm whale, plastic wrappings and caps, plexiglas acrylic plastic, and plastic wire.
Wrappings from found or used bottles, found plastic bags, and misc trash such as straws and bottle caps will be fused to the whale. The plastic draped over the whale will be semi-melted to show the fusion as well as the tear and wear of the material as if it has been apart of the whale for a long time. I will 3d print the whale in 2 pieces; the tale separate from the body. The Plexiglas sheet will be laser cut to fit model and I will adhesive the two parts of the whale together through the holes in the sheet. The wire will be placed based on balance and weight of the material, and more than one strand used if needed.
A viewer will first see the whale hanging in an open space, and see part of the whale on top of the blue sheet of water. One could bend their head to look underneath the sheet to see that the whale is actually living its life covered and surrounded in plastic. The top will show an uncovered fin, but a hint of the trash coming out a straw. This stream of trash can be seen under the water, revealed that it is coming out of the whale.
This project was an important subject to make awareness of the majority of trash in our ocean and how it is affecting its creatures. It shows urgency in the situation to see that the amount of plastic in our ocean is so vast that it is filling up our whales to the point of their expiration. Hopefully this project will invoke curiosity and awareness, as well can be aesthetically pleasing to its viewer and space.