Burrowing Sea Cucumber (2026)
Made entirely from repurposed marine plastic rope and chaffing cord, Burrowing Sea Cucumber is the first in a series of three giant sea cucumber sculptures.
Three different species of Pacific Northwest sea cucumbers have acted as my muse for the past 9 months. These endangered echinoderms possess digestive adaptations that allow them to consume harmful bacteria, waste, decay, and toxins from marine environments. They then filter and excrete nutrients, transforming detritus matter into clean sediment consumed by different marine life.
My process of rummaging, ruminating, regurgitating, and regenerating marine debris mirrors that of the sea cucumber. If only I too could eviscerate my respiratory tree…
Materials: salvaged marine plastic (PVC and Polypropelene), powder coated steel armature
Dimensions: Height 32″ x Width 25″ x Depth 24″ x Weight 6 lbs
Marlo's Liver (2025)
While this piece is not entirely made from marine debris, a large percentage of its visible surfaces and invisible cores rely on the distinct properties of up-cycled maritime rope. It was in knotting “Marlo’s Liver” that I realized I needed to fully adopt plastic waste as a solo material proposition.
I had the honour of making this sculpture for someone whose life was reshaped by a rare form of liver cancer. Knowing their story made me work even harder to lend shape to growth.
Cancer is growth. It’s unwieldy and terrifying growth. But so too is any given patch of garden, and I found comfort in knotting my way through that particular connection.
I was struck by the resilience (and defiance) of reclaiming an organ by putting its repopulated surfaces on the wall: by taking that which remains hidden inside the body and externalizing it, making it forever visible and within reach.
I’m still in awe of the strength of that act. And cancer needs a richer metaphorical life than that of surviving battle and warfare! Those are such vacuous, masculine metaphors that do very little to equip us with what we need in order to talk about illness–or to feel our way through it.
Dimensions: width 19″ x height 17″ by depth 6″
Materials: recycled marine plastic (pvc), waxed polyester, recycled cotton, powder coated steel
Fish Plant (2024)
Made from repurposed plastic marine rope left to pollute the ocean by a fish farm off the coast of British Columbia (Canada), “Fish Plant” examines our fraught relationship to production. In working with industrial marine plastic, I found myself drawn to the volition of the rope itself. Battered, twisted, and left in the ocean to fester as a solid-form oil spill, this fiber has witnessed its share of cruelty. Marine debris feels like material that carries memory in its stubborn insistence on holding certain twisted postures. Instead of using the ocean rope to farm diseased fish, I used it to grow the sort of fish that might adorn an underwater garden of hideous, beautiful things.
Materials: salvaged marine plastic (PVC), Waxed Polyester Cord, Steel
Dimensions: Height 80″ x Width 36″ x Depth 40″