Melissa Balin

#wASTEnOTwANTnOTyO Melissa Balin

#wASTEnOTwANTnOTyO is an immersive phenomenology experience, asking the viewer to participate through examination and wonderment surrounding the wants and wastes in their personal lives and community.#wASTEnOTwANTnOTyO is a virtual art exhibit comprised of trashed art and art pieces made from "trash"; utilizing various mixed mediums and an accompanying haiku - senryu group renku poetry challenge. Each piece, whether a 3-dimensional decoupage or a photo or hashtagged haiku, asks the participant to explore the waste and want in their own lives; how can their existing waste be repurposed to serve its highest purpose; and how can sustainable waste management be applied to creating art or energy or achieving ones' own goals or wants- such as recycling bottles and those funds going towards a family project, or separating food waste scraps for compost to be used in a vegetable or flower garden, or crafting a corkboard out of used corks or a quilt out of concert t-shirts; and sharing a photo of the results or a haiku under the hashtag #wASTEnOTwANTnOTyO.2 out of every hundred people are considered "hoarders" - suffering with SYLLOGOMANIA - another 2 percent of that hundred may be considered "curators" or "collectors" - perhaps a third has an "organized" collection of sorts- stamps or books or a type of art- - leaving about sixty percent of us contributing to the landfills with wanton abandon. #wASTEnOTwANTnOTyO asks us all to consider: What are we holding on to, literally and metaphorically, that is no longer serving us?Can we regift or repurpose something before we send it to a landfill?Can we take a photograph or make art out of something we are reluctant to toss?How can we be less wasteful?Can we want less and do more to relieve and achieve our desires?Follow and share #wASTEnOTwANTnOTyO to be a part of this immersive work in progress.