Elgin Rust 'Evidence V' 2018

Montype on Zerkall Litho paper, Lithography ink

H 140cm x W 99cm unframed original work

Elgin Rust explores and reassess our relationship with our environment. Through her work, she highlights how the materials we create to make our lives easier are impacting our physical and mental health. Plastic, originally applauded as a cheap saviour of humanity has turned out to be our number one pollutant, its toxic contents seeping into every pore of our existence.

Post Plastic is a collection of mixed media artworks. From prints capturing the emptied airless residue of the deflated object to concrete-filled volumes making manifest the fullness of the inflatable.

Using inflatable objects as her starting point, Rust explores what plastic means for our society in the long run. Armed with a collection of other peoples' “pool party trash”, discarded pool toys such as balls, lilos, armbands, and rings, Rust transforms these objects by applying art processes directly to them, capturing forms what could be termed “post plastic”.

Rust’s work, both printed and sculptural, records the darker side of the plastic inflatable. Originally associated with safe family fun, assisting bodies to float, Rust turns the idea inflatable inside out.