Exhibition Insight... Used

Used (series), 2019-2020 framed twist canvas, dark pink found garbage bag, clear bread bag, white shopping bag, yellow Carousel Fresh Food Market grocery bag, dark yellow Skala bread bag, orange found garbage bag, light pink grocery bag, red grocery… — *Used* (series), 2019-2020
framed twist canvas, dark pink found garbage bag, clear bread bag, white shopping bag, yellow Carousel Fresh Food Market grocery bag, dark yellow Skala bread bag, orange found garbage bag, light pink grocery bag, red grocery bag, light green Coles Rice Cakes packet, blue charity clothing bag, dark blue The Athlete’s Foot retail bag, black and grey single-use tablecloths, gold and green plastic gift wrappings, black and white David Jones retail bag, white and blue Sanitarium Weetbix packets. 585 x 740mm. Photo: Sam Roberts

Make. Do. Amend.

Words by Rebecca Freezer

The accentuation of colour, line and shape distinctive to Peta Kruger’s celebrated jewellery design is recast in Used – a body of needlepoint works made from discarded soft plastics otherwise destined for waterways or landfill.

For Kruger, a jeweller of over ten years, Used marks a departure from creating three-dimensionally in metal and paint. While expanding on her previous ideas such as the hierarchy of precious materials and the relationship between jewellery and textiles, Kruger also interrogates crucial environmental issues through her own weavings.

In Australia, the mismanagement of soft plastics at the end of their single-use life results in 85% of them ending up in landfill.i Taking four centuries to break-down, these plastics potentially release more harmful micro-plastics into the environment and toxic gasses into the atmosphere. The United Nations estimates that 13 million tonnes of plastic are dumped into the sea each year and that 89% of plastic litter found on the ocean floor are single-use items like plastic bags.ii This September South Australia passed historic legislation banning single-use plastics. Yet their ubiquity during the global COVID-19 response has delayed its implementation as well as a worldwide, unified approach to environmental protection.

The plastic fibres woven throughout Used are salvaged food packaging, gift-wrapping and litter, occasionally collected via dumpster diving. After sanitising, these flexible plastics are cut into fine strips to create needlepoint threads. The texture and thickness of the material dictates the artist’s preparation. The unabridged material list of Kruger’s neon pink work, the largest from this series, reads more like a shopping list than visual art media: ...light green Coles Rice Cakes packet; dark blue The Athletes Foot retail bag; Sanitarium Weetbix packets...

Used (series), 2020 framed twist canvas, grey and black single-use tablecloths, clear Huggies packaging, dark orange Myer retail bag, dark blue and white shopping bags, blue puff pastry liners, light blue gift wrapping, white, green and light orange… — *Used* (series), 2020
framed twist canvas, grey and black single-use tablecloths, clear Huggies packaging, dark orange Myer retail bag, dark blue and white shopping bags, blue puff pastry liners, light blue gift wrapping, white, green and light orange grocery bags, dark green Woolworths shopping bag, maroon and clear Bakers Delight bread bags, white and blue Sanitarium Weetbix packets, yellow and black Carousel Fresh Food Market grocery bag, Toll courier satchel, dark pink garbage bag, red Red Nose clothing collection bag, red and white shopping bag, gold and clear gift wrapping, purple Bunnings Mother’s Day gift wrapping, bright pink JR’s Surf and Ski retail bag. 555 x 505mm. Photo: Sam Robers

Used (series), 2020 framed twist canvas, silver Yalumba cask wine packets, white and blue Sanitarium Weetbix packets, white shopping bag, grey and black single-use tablecloths, yellow Carousel Fresh Food Market grocery bag, gold Ricca coffee packet,… — *Used* (series), 2020
framed twist canvas, silver Yalumba cask wine packets, white and blue Sanitarium Weetbix packets, white shopping bag, grey and black single-use tablecloths, yellow Carousel Fresh Food Market grocery bag, gold Ricca coffee packet, bright green plant nursery bag, dark blue shopping bag, pink potato bag, multi-colour gift wrapping, gold and clear gift wrapping, dark green Woolworths shopping bag, clear Huggies packaging, bright orange Myer retail bag, shiny yellow gift wrapping twine, dark red gift wrapping, shiny red gift wrapping twine, light blue shopping bag, light green twine, red Red Nose clothing collection bag. 370 x 300mm. Photo: Sam Roberts.

By cataloguing the materials in this way, Kruger identifies that everyone in the supply chain is accountable for the yield and afterlife of plastic packaging – from producers to retailers to consumers. Above all, Used is Kruger’s personal journey of reflection, atonement and commitment to the problem of plastic pollution.

By incorporating techniques associated with ‘women’s work’ Kruger contemplates how ‘the labour of stitching exhausts my body and concentrates my mind to a point where new insights are revealed.’ The large neon pink work consists of 105,000 stitches and took over four months to complete. She goes on to say:

The legacy of plastic is a story that will unfold for generations. For that reason, it seems prudent to consider and carefully organise the material for future readings, according it the status of a finely woven historic tapestry.iii

The iridescent, jewel-like colours and surfaces disguise the familiar, repellent properties of the plastics used. Yet this experimental approach to material, while unique to Kruger, is not unconventional. The pervasiveness of plastic and polymer materials means that they have long-been in the furniture we sit on and the clothes that we wear. Many soft plastics are now, in fact, being recycled into durable, if uninspired, outdoor furniture. Here, Kruger’s finished weavings become fine art of immense beauty.

Her inventive handling of abstract pattern and geometric layering pay homage to the ‘pictorial-weavings’ of Anni Albers. Known for combining traditional and ancient weaving techniques with modern designs and synthetic materials, Albers often featured patterns based on repeating and interlocking stripes, squares and rectangles. Like Albers, the strong geometric patterns Kruger creates conform to the canvas grid. As Kruger describes it:

The canvas grid condenses the volume of plastic waste and brings a sense of order to chaos. Every stitch is accompanied by a maddening awareness of the futility of my mission, and of the broader strategies currently in place to help protect the environment. And yet I feel compelled to persist.

The patterning rendered in vivid hues, informed by the lurid rainbow of reclaimed plastic demonstrates Kruger’s background in graphic design and illustration. The final works also resemble test patterns – a graphic tool once used in analogue television to enable synchronisation of signals for optimum colour and clarity. One can hope that audiences laying their eyes on Kruger’s finely crafted needlepoint works in Used will experience their own recalibration as we reset, post-pandemic, for optimum functionality.

Used (series), 2020 framed twist canvas, white and dark blue shopping bags, white and yellow grocery bags, clear Huggies packaging, bright green plant nursery bag, silver Coles Rice Cakes packet, light green, pink and orange garbage bags, grey and b… — *Used* (series), 2020
framed twist canvas, white and dark blue shopping bags, white and yellow grocery bags, clear Huggies packaging, bright green plant nursery bag, silver Coles Rice Cakes packet, light green, pink and orange garbage bags, grey and black single-use tablecloths, dark green gift packaging, red Red Nose clothing collection bag. 600 x 400mm.
Photo: Sam Roberts

Used (series), 2020 framed twist canvas, yellow Carousel Fresh Food Market grocery bag, grey and black single use tablecloths, red Red Nose clothing collection bag, clear Huggies packaging, bright green plant nursery bag, light green, orange and pin… — *Used* (series), 2020
framed twist canvas, yellow Carousel Fresh Food Market grocery bag, grey and black single use tablecloths, red Red Nose clothing collection bag, clear Huggies packaging, bright green plant nursery bag, light green, orange and pink garbage bags, white and dark blue shopping bags, light blue puff pastry liners. 410 x 325mm. Photo: Sam Roberts

Peta Kruger is a previous tenant of JamFactory (2011-2013) and an alumna of its Associate Program in the Metal Design Studio (2009-2010). In 2007 she worked at Cockpit Arts, London with jewellers Scott Wilson and Jane Adam. In 2011, she undertook a mentorship with contemporary jeweller Karl Frisch in Germany and New Zealand. With the support of Lendlease and ASPECT Studios, in 2018 Kruger unveiled her first public art project in Steam Mill Lane in Sydney’s Darling Square precinct. Kruger’s works have been show in group and solo exhibitions in galleries across Australia and New Zealand including Bilk Gallery, Canberra; Melbourne’s Craft Victoria and Pieces of Eight Gallery; COTA, Sydney; and The National, Christchurch, New Zealand. Kruger has a Bachelor of Visual Communications (hons) (2003) and a Bachelor of Visual Arts (hons) (2013) from the University of South Australia as well as a Bachelor of Visual Arts (2008) from the Adelaide Centre for the Arts. In 2020, Kruger completed her Masters by Research in Visual Arts at the University of South Australia.

Support for Used was provided by the Government of South Australia’s Department of the Premier and Cabinet through the Independent Makers and Presenters program.

Used in showing now until 22 November at JamFactory Adelaide