2023 MA Art and Science, Central Saint Martins, UAL | Photograph: Poojan Gupta
TAKEN
- Written byPoojan Gupta
- Published date 24 May 2023
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2023 MA Art and Science, Central Saint Martins, UAL | Photograph: Poojan Gupta
Article written by Poojan Gupta, MA Art and Science, Central Saint Martins
Medicine packets are made of Polyethylene Terephthalate or Polyvinyl Chloride which are hard plastic resins and cannot be recycled through traditional means. And the costs of separating different components and recycling are just too high for councils to afford. Hence, the majority of empty medicine packs end up in landfill and if disposed incorrectly, in our oceans and waterways.
By initiating a conversation through the proposed work I focused on collecting empty medicine packets now in the UK (initially London) to explore future sustainable possibilities of the material by repurposing them in art projects.
I have always paid attention and responded to environmental concerns not as an activist but as an artist who is engaged and invested in the entanglements of our world. And I plan to take it forward through my artistic response.
2023 MA Art and Science, Central Saint Martins, UAL | Photograph: Poojan Gupta
2023 MA Art and Science, Central Saint Martins, UAL | Photograph: Poojan Gupta
Year – 2023
The works build on the existing importance and utility of medicines in our lives. It explores medicine packets as an independent unit which gets reshaped and re-explained in relation to human interactions with the same. They are composed of used and discarded medicine packets in layers of repetition to magnify these deformations brought by human touch. It plays with the notion of absent presence within the space, retaining a constant conversation with the past happenings. It refreshes that feeling of touch in the minds of the people. Hence, giving a deeper meaning to touch, a more philosophical meaning that makes humans more connected to the packets of life saving medicines, linking literal and metaphorical utility of medicines.
The existence of these packets seems negligible in our mundane everyday life. But to me, it holds a bigger space than is considered. The works reciprocate the scale of these empty packets to bring together the very common but in a different way. It encourages us to take a step back and look at it differently.
Looking at it now, is not mundane any more but initiates a new aesthetic dialogue around the overlooked everyday. It procures its meaning only when it lives in the experiences of others. It is recreated every time it is experienced. The work questions our way of looking at the humdrum of the everyday.
2023 MA Art and Science, Central Saint Martins, UAL | Photograph: Poojan Gupta
Related links
- Watch a video of Taken in action
- Poojan Gupta Website
- Poojan Gupta Instagram
- MA Art and Science course at Central Saint Martins
- UAL Post-Grad Community
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