About
Emily Chudnovsky’s newest series of artworks, Felt One, Felt Two, and Felt Three were made using sheep’s wool, invasive grapevines, and microfibers. Microfibers are tiny strands of microplastic (plastic litter < 5mm in size) that often end up in waterways through the routine washing and drying of clothes. The microfibers used for these pieces are from discarded textiles and carpeting.
Microfibers are everywhere, and we continue to see an increase in the use of plastic-based materials by the fashion industry. Chudnovsky’s felt collage pieces combine natural but invasive fibers from grapevines with plastic fibers. These Felt works draw a connection between invasive species and plastic pollution - a synthetic invasive 'species' in our environment. The Felt Pieces also explore some of the possibilities that the small but pervasive material might hold.
The concept for this work stems from the research conducted by Hayley McIlwraith, Jack Lin, Dr. Sam Athey, and Dr. Lisa Erdle, working with Professors Miriam Diamond and Chelsea Rochman. This work culminated as a project of The University of Toronto Trash Team (in collaboration with The Rochman Lab and Georgian Bay Forever), called Divert and Capture: Microfiber Project, led by Dr. Erdle. Erdle’s research shows that if every household in Toronto had a washing machine filter installed, we could collectively divert up to 166 trillion microfibers from wastewater per year.
Artist
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Emily Chudnovsky
Emily Chudnovsky holds a Master of Fine art from the Glasgow School of Art and an Undergraduate combined Honours degree from the University of Kings College in Contemporary Studies and Gender and Women’s Studies. Her site-specific research has taken place in Scotland, California, Yukon and Ontario. Her artistic practice consists of collecting organic remnants and synthetic decay in order to draw out new iterations, connections and regenerations through sculpture-based installations. Her carefully considered use of discarded materials in her immediate environment calls into question our human-made demarcations of nature and waste. Most recently, Chudnovsky installed a public floating installation in Lake Ontario in collaboration with Ports Toronto and The University of Toronto Trash Team. She is currently living and making work in Toronto, Canada.
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