A major focus of Barbara Hashimoto’s work from 2006-2016 centered on the environmental issues of paper waste. Newly situated as artist-in-residence at an architecture firm, she was alarmed by the abundance of junk mail the company received everyday, as well as the great quantity of paper printed, distributed, and archived in the course of business.
Deforestation and paper waste research uncovered some startling statistics, such as 100 million trees are cut down to produce junk mail annually, 44% of which goes unopened into landfill. At that rate, it was projected that each of us would spend 8 months of our lives dealing with junk mail. Add to that, the time spent processing all the other paper that comes our way in our personal and professional lives. [1]
Determined to get a visual and physical perspective on these facts, Hashimoto collected and hand-shredded the white paper discarded by the architecture firm, and the junk mail delivered to the firm for one year. The white paper was used in a body of work that included the installation White Trash (2008) and the photographic series, On Becoming Tightly Bound (2013). The one-year collection of junk mail yielded 3,000-cubic feet of shredded paper which was the material foundation for an expansive and evolving body of work exhibited throughout the U.S. and Europe over the next ten years.
The earliest phases of the Junk Mail Experiment emphasized the environmental and personal burden of junk mail through large-scale installations, performance, and audience engagement. She also created a series of Junk Mail Weavings (from 2007) and the video, Junk Mail Confessions (2008), a collection of often humorous stories of exhibition goers’ thoughts on junk mail. The artist’s collaboration with environmental organizations offered a platform for the activists and opportunities for the community to engage.
Her first action towards the conclusion of this project was the performative installation Junk Mail Burning (2012). She set fire to half of her collected shreds in a two-evening event reminiscent of the Dondoyaki, the Ritual Burnings she experienced during her tenure in Japan. The ash from her burnings were incorporated into ceramic glazes and drawing media.
She recycled her junk mail shreds into 100’s of sheets of hand-made paper. And, led an art mail project with a group of students from the University of Illinois who formed and reworked 300 envelopes. These pieces were mailed to Berlin and incorporated into an installation shown during Berlin Artweek and Festival Berlin Neukoelln in 2016.
[1] ForestEthics.org; “EPA Junk Mail Reduction” Epa.gov. 2006-06-28.
IMAGES:
1. On Becoming Tightly Bound (2011) 10 x 13 inches
No. 5 in a seven-part photographic series following the transformation of a handful of shredded architectural plans manipulated and treated with various media.
2. Junk Mail Landscape (2008) 80 x 40 x40 feet
Made from junk mail delivered to the artist’s studio address over a one-year period. No armatres, fillers, or supports used.
photo: Archie Flor-Cruzr
4. White Trash (2008) 5 x 16 x 6 feet, Japanese kimono chest with the shredded white paper a 14-person architecture firm discarded over a 4-week period.
photo: Shelley Anderson