I started cleaning up trash off the beach when I first moved here 14 years ago and I
was just really honestly disgusted that there was so much trash on the beaches and I didn't
quite understand why I used to just throw it away or take it back to, I used to take
styrofoam cups back to 7-Eleven because they had the 7-Eleven logo on them and they looked
at me like I was crazy.
The more I talked to people and I started meeting different people from different environmental
groups, 5GIRES, Project Save Our Serve, Heal the Bay and started getting more involved
in the movement.
I just, I love the ocean.
The trash and just started really in the last year.
I actually was approached by Heal the Bay to do a piece for a mannequin that was for
the opening of Santa Monica Marketplace and I had no idea what I was doing.
I've never taken a fashion class in my life so I made this wearable piece and I called
it White Trash and it's made of the most prevalent things I find which are cigarette
lighters, bottle caps, straws, straws are a huge issue and then various other things.
So I wanted to make a statement.
It was being viewed by the everyday public so it was a great opportunity to just to represent
Heal the Bay and to get the word out there and have people think about, when they look
at it, they think about, I know what that is, that's a straw, I know what that is, that's
a bottle cap and I never wash anything so when they look at it upon closer inspection
they see, wait a minute, where did this come from, you know, because especially if you
look at the piece of bag lady, the white, the bag dress, that's really dirty when you
look at it and there's no way, obviously no, that is not like the original bag, it's already
gone through the ocean and been sitting in the sun for a long period of time and it's
rather disgusting when you really look at it so I figure the best compliment I've ever
had from my work and I've had this a couple of times is when someone says, that's beautiful
and disgusting, that's what I know when I've hit it.
