BAG: Bags Across the Globe
This installation, BAG (Bags Across the Globe) is an interactive project that will reach out to friends and strangers across the globe, in an effort to bring attention to the environmental damage caused by plastic shopping bags and textile waste, and to promote the use of reusable cloth bags. It is part of my ongoing investigation of the environmental crisis that faces the world today.
It is estimated that worldwide we use over 500 billion plastic bags annually; these amount to 60 million barrels of oil produced to make an item we use once and throw away within a matter of hours or even minutes. The vast majority are not recycled and end up in landfills or even worse, in waterways and ultimately in the oceans where they break down and are consumed by animals up and down the food chain. In addition, there is an estimated 2.5 billion pounds of post-consumer textile waste generated in the U.S. each year--the equivalent of 10 pounds per person.
It is imperative that we stop these destructive practices, and BAG will be part of this effort. This project addresses both issues of textile waste and single-use plastic bags. It also takes a stand against the excesses of consumer culture. These bags will be exchanged as gifts, not purchases, reflecting traditional culture's practice of exchanging gifts to cement relationships. This project is more about an exchange of energy and information than about an exchange of objects: the bags function as messengers.
This year, with the help of student interns from our fashion design program, I will create at least 150 stylish cloth shopping bags out of used clothing and textiles. The bags will be made of everything from blue jeans to upholstery samples discarded by design firms. Each bag will contain the following: a) a postcard made out of recycled paper with the logo BAG and space for the recipients to write a message; b) a sheet with facts about plastic bags and textile waste, and a pattern and directions for creating cloth bags.
I will mail two shopping bags each to 75 people in as many countries as possible. Recipients will be asked to use their own bag for shopping. They will in turn send the second bag to a friend in another country, to do the same, so the bag project will spread across the globe. All recipients will then send me their postcards with a message, and a photo of themselves holding the bag. There will be approximately 150 photos and handwritten cards.
There is a link on my website (annsavageau.com) that will grow and develop as people return their cards and photos. The BAG project will be shown as an installation in 2009.
