great garbage vortex (the modern “rag” rug)

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Artist: Katrina Perdue

Title: great garbage vortex (the modern “rag” rug)

Attribution: "great garbage vortex (the modern "rag" rug)," 2022, Katrina Perdue

Year: 2022

Materials: seam bindings, phone chargers, ribbon, zippers, elastic, rope, lace binding, tulle, badge neck strap, aux cord, piping, netting, disposable face maskes, faux leather bracelet, cloth lei, faux flowers, nylon strap, basketball net, nylon cord, twill tap, nonwoven reusable bag, camera charger, bead necklaces, wig strips, neoprene coozie, clothing selvedges, kinesiology tape, wired ribbon, guitar string, elastic straps, shoelaces, fake spider web, ethernet cord, pipe cleaners, pom pom, tangled thread,

Dimensions: 50" + diameter

Image Statement: Old phone chargers that stopped working, strips of various netting, ropes, bias tapes, disposable masks, busted zippers, worn out elastic, shoelaces. To my knowledge, all of these items that fall in the textiles category are not recyclable. Where do they most likely end up? The landfill. The rivers. Ditches. The ocean. Wrapped around wildlife and trees. Most made from synthetic materials and will take years to break down, if ever. And they are all familiar to every one of us. The rag rug traditionally uses old clothes or sheets that are no longer wearable. We certainly still have plenty of that to work with - but now we have so much textile related waste that can’t even be made into rags. This is our modern "rag" rug.