Garment Bag(hag)
performance/intervention 2019
fabric, thread, filament, eye protection mask, hundreds of recycled dry-cleaning bags and wire hangers. Presented as part of Art in Odd Places:Invisible, NYC
Garment Bag(hag) considers the afterlife of human-made materials. The performance is a response to the copious amount of single-use plastic that is used to swaddle clean clothes in the cleaning industry. The flimsy clear bags are exempt from our national plastic bag bans including CA, NY, Hawaii, and most recently in Baltimore, MD. Our urban landscape houses multiple dry-cleaner establishments that generate hundreds of polyethylene, single-use plastic bags daily. Once removed from the garment, the bags are immediately thrown in the trash and end up in landfills, where each bag lasts for over 1000 years, with an environmental legacy that may last forever.
During the performance, I embody the spirit of plastic past. Wearing a garment made of re-purposed plastic bags and walking the streets from cleaner to cleaner, I offer a hanger and a garment bag as a reminder of possible solution. “Garment Bag(hag)” reflects upon the daily routines of domesticity and the hidden consequences of the cleaning establishments that effect our environment.