Memento Vivere is a lens-based multimedia body of work created from discarded objects found on Toronto’s beaches. The items, collected over the span of two years, make up barely a fraction of the total amount of litter that collects on the shores of Lake Ontario — approximately 1,400 metric tonnes each year, according to the Rochester Institute of Technology. Shocked — but also morbidly enamoured — by the staggering amount of human-made garbage on the beach, I sought to pull something beautiful from the mess.

Dark and high-contrast, the still-lives allude to the infamous 17th Century Dutch still-life paintings that used fruit, flowers, and other organic/impermanent subjects as memento mori. Only, the detritus used in this body of work are far from organic — these human-made plastics will never fully degrade. In a fast-paced, hyper-consumerist society, they will only continue to build up in our environment. Highlighting the sobering permanence of these objects, I am imploring viewers to consider the lasting impact that they have on our environment, and our own culpability in local climate change.

24x30 Archival Inkjet Prints on Aluminum Dibond