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Genevieve Pfeiffer

Intimate Garbage, 2022
Table, Plastic Discards, Dried flowers, Paper

Intimate Garbage is an assemblage consisting of personal plastic discards, all of which hosted a plant or plants in different forms (as powders or liquids, or as parts such as leaves, stems, flowers, etc.). The artist consumed these plants--either eating them or using them as hygiene products. These remaining plastics allowed the plants to be transported to the artist, so that she could interact with them. The dried flowers that remain on this table were delivered to the artist wrapped in plastic to protect them from the rain. These poems were written by Lucia Blum, Avital Krifcher, and the artist. The paper on which they were written was once a tree. Once, ink was made by utilizing parts (usually berries, roots, and bark) from plants. Now, ink is industrially produced. While Whitman once famously wrote, "I contain multitudes," this table also contains multitudes. Here, time scales rub against each other, posting questions about companionism, attention, and care.