The Polyethylene Souls

The soul is an immortal, immaterial substance that contains all aspects of consciousness, thinking, will, and feelings. Ephemeral in nature, the soul becomes a metaphor for sculptural matter seeking to manifest itself in the real world. The instability and variability of its essence reflects a living, albeit unstable existence.In my work, I create images of living beings from discarded materials and garbage, exploring the impulse of life projected onto lifeless objects. The Soul Factory project is a metaphor for a space in which reflection, processing and preparation for a new rebirth take place. Using plastic bags, I create bizarre images of animals, which I then fix on canvas and photograph. I combine these images with photographs of objective reality, inverting them. This process becomes an act of transition, a metaphor for reinterpretation and transformation. The inverted reality presented in my works is not friendly. In it, meeting the outside world requires strength, pragmatism, and readiness to face threats. The world turns bright red, like a warning light warning of impending danger.Polyethylene, as a material, cannot be naturally decomposed without recycling, and its impact on the environment is catastrophic. Polyethylene bags have been decomposing for centuries, clogging rivers, lakes and oceans, threatening ecosystems, provoking disasters. The massive use of plastic bags threatens the balance of multiple natural systems.About one million new plastic bags are used every minute in the world. Polyethylene production continues to grow, reaching 106 million tons per year, while plastic recycling accounts for only 9%. We are faced with the question: what will remain after us?

© Ekaterina Bovkunova, photographer & creator