Botanics plastic show links art and science

VISITORS to the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) are being encouraged to think about their use of plastic by a new art exhibition.

Think Plastic: Materials and Making” will run until 1 November in the garden’s John Hope Gateway.

Ceramists Lorna Fraser and Carol Sinclair have collaborated with fellow artists Fiona Hutchison, Fiona Pilgrim and Carla Edwards to create the exhibition.

They also worked with scientists including RBGE tropical taxonomist Peter Wilkie, Professor Michael Shaver from the University of Edinburgh’s Green Materials Laboratory, and students Hattie Chisnall and Emily Macdonald.

Fraser said: “Plastic is an amazing substance and its versatility and low cost has transformed our lives – however, it is these very same virtues that have also resulted in the massive environmental problems we are seeing today.

“This exhibition – through the prism of art – shows how beautiful different kinds of plastics can be and by doing so encourages us to value it and change our disposable attitude towards it; it is often not plastic that is the issue but how we humans use and dispose of it.”

Read more art stories on Scottish Field’s culture pages.

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