ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how ambivalence around plastics, and toxicity and waste more generally, has become a significant feature of contemporary environmental humanities scholarship and of contemporary art. It highlights the queer and feminist dimensions of that ambivalence. The chapter traces how the academic subfield of queer ecology departs from the adamant opposition to plastics and toxicity espoused by mainstream environmentalism to articulate a reclamation or embrace thereof. This ambivalence functions both as a measure against “purity politics” and as a pragmatic recognition of our current moment of crisis – though it certainly poses many risks. The chapter focuses on the ever-growing genre of contemporary plastic art, demonstrating how well-known male artists such as Chris Jordan, Mark Dion and Stuart Haygarth aestheticize plastic while drawing attention to plastic pollution – an aestheticization that carries many risks as well. It concludes with an in-depth look at two female artists, Ruth Peche and Ifeoma U. Anyaeji, who have received comparatively less attention.
