Archaeology of Plastic Micro-ruins

Party /
Microplastics collected on canvas.
30 cm x 30 cm
2023 — Party / Microplastics collected on canvas. 30 cm x 30 cm 2023

Nanos /
Microplastics collected on canvas.
30 cm x 30 cm
2023 — Nanos / Microplastics collected on canvas. 30 cm x 30 cm 2023

Imitating Nature /
Microplastics collected on canvas.
30 cm x 30 cm
2023 — Imitating Nature / Microplastics collected on canvas. 30 cm x 30 cm 2023

Party /
Microplastics collected on canvas.
20 cm x 20 cm
2023 — Party / Microplastics collected on canvas. 20 cm x 20 cm 2023

Cars Crash /
Microplastics collected on canvas.
30 cm x 30 cm
2023 — Cars Crash / Microplastics collected on canvas. 30 cm x 30 cm 2023

Spheres /
Microplastics collected on canvas.
20 cm x 20 cm
2023 — Spheres / Microplastics collected on canvas. 20 cm x 20 cm 2023

Foams /
Microplastics collected on canvas.30 cm x 30 cm
2023 — Foams / Microplastics collected on canvas.30 cm x 30 cm 2023

Mermaid Tears /
Microplastics collected on canvas.
30 cm x 30 cm
2023 — Mermaid Tears / Microplastics collected on canvas. 30 cm x 30 cm 2023

Camila Lemoine

2023

Madrid, Spain.

This project is built upon the systematic collection of microplastics between 2021 and 2023, and presents itself as a minimal fragment of a phenomenon of global scale.

The work adopts the language of archaeology to approach these materials as micro-ruins: vestiges of a recent past that contain information about contemporary modes of production and consumption.

Through groupings of fragments organised by typologies —microfibres, foams, imitations of nature, among others— units of meaning are configured that allow these remains to be read as a material narrative of present-day society.