John Willis (US American, b. 1976)
Recycled Realities #1, 1998
gelatin silver print photograph
Gift of Dr. J. Patrick and Patricia Kennedy, 2017.126
7 x 7”
John Willis was inspired to create the Recycled Realities series after viewing a bustling mill surrounded by acres of scrap paper destined for recycling. By arranging and photographing stray scraps from this mill, Willis conducts an archeological dig into society’s offloaded waste while pondering the paradoxical relationship between industrial recycling and pollution. In the artist’s own words: “The more sensitive we are to the volume and degree of waste we create, the more aware we will be in understanding the product of our society…This excess and scrap is at this plant for recycling, which is positive, but also creates some degree of pollution. Who knows where the balance of positive and negative effects from our prolific use of paper products lies?”