Plastic Guilt

Public space performance, China, 2017

Plastic Guilt is a performance that serves as a public apology to the Chinese city of Kunming, confessing to one person’s plastic consumption during a three-month stay there.

Despite reducing consumption as far as possible, there was still a great deal of unavoidable plastic waste. I attempted to expose this growing weight of waste that we all generate by literally carrying my waste as a burden of shame in public spaces throughout Kunming.

By admitting my guilt openly in public, this intervention challenged others to reflect on their own usage and be mindful of their waste.