The Projective Eye Gallery at UNC Charlotte Center City will display “Sustain Me Baby” Friday, March 28, through Thursday, June 26. Combining the work of two artists in different media, “Sustain Me Baby” examines the danger of plastics that cannot be recycled. An opening reception for the exhibition will be from 6 to 8 p.m., March 28.
Joyce Dallal’s “The Other Toy Story” is a 10-foot-tall trash-receptacle “baby” that is “fed” during the opening reception and throughout the exhibition with plastic toys. While the giant baby, which can hold several hundred pounds of toys, evokes a sense of play, it also illustrates through scale that waste left behind today will be a massive problem for the future generations. A video by John Flynn, “Feed the Baby,” will run continuously in the gallery, chronicling the first installation of Dallal’s work in 2011 in a Los Angeles school.
Powerful images from Chris Jordan’s Midway series will surround “The Other Toy Story.” The Midway Atoll lies in the northern Pacific Ocean, more than 2,000 miles from the coasts of Asia and North America. Jordan visited the islands some three years ago to photograph dead baby albatrosses, whose stomachs contained the remains of plastic, mistakenly fed to them as food by their parents.
“Choked to death on our waste,” wrote Jordan, “the mythical albatross calls upon us to recognize that our greatest challenge lies not out there, but in here.”
“Sustain Me Baby” is part of KEEPING WATCH, a three-year initiative designed to foster collaboration across disciplines and interest groups to engage the public in matters of local sustainable issues. Developed by the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, in partnership with the UNC Charlotte College of Arts + Architecture, KEEPING WATCH connects community partners and projects to raise awareness and inspire action around three local environmental issues: plastic waste and recycling (KEEPING WATCH on PLASTICS, 2014), water quality and urban streams (KEEPING WATCH on CREEKS, 2015) and air quality and the value of trees (KEEPING WATCH on AIR, 2016). More information is on the Keeping Watch website.
The March 28 opening reception will include conversations with the artists and a live performance of original choreography by Mark Diamond, performed by members of N.C. Dance Theatre 2. Commissioned by the Projective Eye Gallery, designer Erica Diamond has created the dance costumes from recycled products. The public is asked to bring an old toy to “feed the baby.”
In addition, three miniature “baby” receptacles will collect plastic toys in alternate locations. One receptacle has been installed at Discovery Place; one will be at various locations on the UNC Charlotte campus; and one will travel to places throughout the Queen City.