Washed Up
Sian Ka’an is México’s largest federally-protected reserve and it gathers a lot of trash. So much trash, in fact, that artist Alejandro Durán has been able to gather, separate and color code it to his liking in elaborate staged installations that he photographs and sometimes transports to galleries. The phrase Sian Ka’an is a Mayan word meaning “gift from the sky,” but although, Duràn can make the refuse into beautiful rainbow images, the trash is not a benign offering to the natural environment. The work hopes to inspire an worldwide acknowledgement of the waste our communities create in hopes that we can find new ways to waste less. You can see Duràn’s work at Hunter College’s East Harlem gallery until February 28th of next year.
Hunter College East Harlem Art Gallery
2180 Third Avenue at 119th Street
New York, NY 10035