Alex Lawton: Who Invented Littering?

Who Invented Littering?
2020
Marker, pencil, ballpoint pen, gesso, acrylic ink, scotch tape, newsprint, spray paint, screen printing ink, ink roller, and mason jar all on the same piece of paper
18 x 24 in.
Video 1:15 min.

Who Invented Littering? is an investigation and visual meditation into the overwhelming amount of misinformation surrounding climate change. We live in a nation with freedom of the press, which of course has many benefits, but also allows for the legality of lying and deception. It often feels paralyzing to confront the depth of deception and wrongdoing in both our history and present. This piece explores the overwhelming experience of trying to comprehend the complexities of climate change and this pandemic. It is my attempt to actively practice ways of living within a circular economy by subverting our cultural tendency to constantly purchase single-use products. True recycling involves valuing what you have in front of you enough to reuse and reinterpret a new and better reality with the same materials. By observing drastically different visual works transform on the same piece of paper, this piece is intended to be a meditation on the multivalence of a given entity.