Holding on to Waste
The text within the artist book Holding on to Waste was collected from the public in answer to the question: "What do you enjoy wasting?" The paper in the book is made from recycled magazines, cardboard boxes, a picture book, paper towels, paper scraps, childrens drawings, mint tea bag wrappers, receipts, scavenged berries, old Christmas cards, photographs, algae, a plastic bottle, chestnuts, fabric and thread scraps, a balloon, a cardboard spool, rubber gloves, empty Emergen-C packets, blue tape, packing tape, food wrappers, double sided tape, and water collected on Governors Island. In a society where consumerism and wasteful living is widespread, this book asks us to consider more deeply how we allocate and spend our resources, often at the risk of the earth and other times at the risk of our own personal fulfillment and satisfaction.
Body of Water
About the Artist
Maggie Haslam (b. 1988 in Washington DC) received a BFA in studio art at Brigham Young University and then received an MFA in studio at Pratt Institute a few years later. She currently lives and works in New York City as a painter and paper maker. Maggie primarily uses water based paints on paper while exploring the essential characteristics of these components, which has led to a greater focus on the process behind her work. She strives to be conscious in her consumption of and seeks meaningful sources for her materials in order to reach a goal of becoming a self-sustained, waste-free, conceptual artist. In 2017, Maggie collaborated with a fellow artist in a residency program located in Beginning with Children Charter School in Brooklyn, New York. They have worked together with the help of the middle school students on a project relating to immigration and displacement. In the summer of 2018 and again in 2019, Maggie received a residency on Governors Island, New York with Underwater New York/Works on Water where she used only collected and recycled water to make art with, exploring the meaning of preserving sacred but often wasted materials.