Caution, Synthetic
By Sarah S. Elkind & Verena Winiwarter
Entitled "Caution, Synthetic", the panel blends natural and synthetic fibers and cut-up fabrics with found objects.Natural fibers predominate at the right, and artificial fibers at the left, signifying both the dependence of all life on natural resources, and the accretion and impact of industrial products globally throughout the twentieth and twenty-first century. Caution tape is knitted into the panel to highlight the danger of these industrial products, and the moments when concerted action could have, but did not, address the hazards of industrial production. To add an ironic twist, a length of cable is braided through the knitted panel, as if in "knitting cables", a specific knitting technique. At it’s core, this panel is intended as a critique of the political power of the petrochemical and plastics industries that blocked collective action, and the political and civic leadership that bowed to their tactics.