The Otherwise Good Person by Susannah Pal
The Crypt Gallery, London 4-7th July 2022
Art exhibition by Susannah Pal exploring the value of framing the challenges of plastic pollution as a moral issue. Featuring 14 works on paper and a five minute animation. Film about the exhibition
For five months Susannah collaborated with Professor Ian Williams, Toby Roberts, CDT SIS and The Waste Management Research Group at the University of Southampton, learning from the scientists about how plastic degrades into microplastics and then into nanoplastics. This non-biodegradable matter gets everywhere; in the water, in our food, in the air, and even into our blood. She produced thought these provoking works as a response to her research and first exhibited at the Southampton University Science and Engineering Festival in April.
About
This isn’t an exhibition about how to make good choices for the environment. It’s about living in a society so deeply consumerist and reliant on plastic that there are no good choices.
As a “good person,” it’s always tempting to judge the behaviour of others who aren’t making the same “good choices” that you think you are. The images in this exhibition are inspired by my own life; the women are caricatures of me, and many of the items you see in the pictures are things I have owned and used. In turning that sanctimonious judgement on myself, I explore what it means to be “a good person” and question the value of framing the challenges of plastic pollution as a moral issue. Susannah Pal, 2022