Avery, Pauline, Joshua, Sophie

1891 painting, A Huntsman and Dogs

• The huntsman in Homer’s painting is not a visitor but rather a local trapper or guide who has caught a deer and is carrying off its pelt, antlers, and, likely, a pack full of meat.

Connection to eco-criticism

• Rather than overwhelming/taking center point of the natural background, Homer blends the huntsman in with the context he is in, illustrating that the huntsman does not appear dominant over nature, but rather acting as co-equal characters.

Work Details:

• Materials used: trash, food and beverage packaging, and replica food waste. 

• Colors: the vibrant food and beverage packaging pop. This highlights the initial attraction to the packaging and how it can be easily discarded once we are satisfied. 

• Presence of human/non-human characters: The shadowed silhouettes portray realistic humans in their most natural and relaxed state. The details of the hair texture, face shape, and specific items they are holding (a cigarette and wine glass) in these silhouettes illustrate that we are not so different from these people. 

• Collocation of the artwork: The artists’ “work” combines assemblage, light, shadow and humor. They aggregate objects and debris into self-deprecating works that bridge two realities.

• Target audience: people in society that contribute to global trash accumulation and food waste pollution. 

• Artists Details: Tim Noble and Sue Webster are London-based artists whose work combines the collection of commonly discarded materials, light projection, shadows, and humor. For this piece, Dirty White Trash, the artists gathered 6 months worth of trash to create the pile. Throughout their careers they have collected the trash of others, building an inventory of materials, for unknown future use, refusing to acknowledge it as waste, and ultimately contribute to global pollution.

• The work explores the relationship between humans and our contribution to waste pollution.

• It contradicts our usual “out of sight, out of mind” approach to waste management.

• It shows ways in which we can repurpose waste.

• The projections symbolize the elusiveness of accountability, as our brains struggle to perceive the trash piles as the culmination of the small choices we make every day.

• Different renditions of the same art to represent universal applicability

• Made of clothes, computers, notebooks, CDs, books, necklaces, playing cards

• Represents the stories and backgrounds of humans and how everything is eventually connected back to the individual as long as there is meaning

• Symbolizes the clutter an individual has, and how much it impacts themselves (as this "physical burden" in the picture) but also the environment

Artist Detail:

• Jeff Hong is an animation and storyboard artist based in Los Angeles. He takes what is nostalgic, precious and innocent, and forces the viewer to confront the reality of both the environmental and social problems at the forefront of today’s society.

• I feel like art is really important for sharing issues because it's visual—something people can understand. Especially using Disney characters, it’s easy for kids to see how their actions can affect the world. I hope that, for example, when they see Elsa's ice melting, they think, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t keep the lights on all the time and recycle trash properly."

Work Detail:

• Disney meets global reality of global warming

• connected through global warming

• The work uses Disney characters to attract the attention of the audience

• It exposes real environmental conditions and spreads awareness by showing their consequences

• The piece is criticizing how the over usage of fossil fuels and carbon emission has caused even Elsa’s ice to melt, creating an nostalgic yet emotional connection with the audience to realize the effects of the global warming in a more recognizable terms.

• Makes the Disney characters look distressed/harmed by their environments as a tool to make a greater impact

• Uses real pictures environmental issues, but drawings of characters to properly contrast an element of fiction from an element of reality