Circularity ll

These works were developed from Circularity l - Gyre: The Plastic Ocean, Anchorage Museum, 2014.

The narrative of the Pacific Gyre follows a cyclic pattern driven by vast oceanic global systems that operate on a much larger timescale than human industrial processes. Our understanding of the disposal and dispersal of human debris is based on photographic evidence and systematic scientific investigation. Ocean currents transport our petrochemical objects across vast distances, eventually depositing them on shorelines around the world. These natural forces move and shift immense volumes of water and waste materials, much like the circulatory systems found in the human body and the patterns seen in nature and mathematics, which have inspired artists throughout history. 

The untouched wilderness, once a source of inspiration for artists and scientists, now seems lost in the post-Darwinian world. Some may view this world as devoid of mystery, but Hughes sees beauty and complexity in the waste matter that inhabits it alongside humans.