Georgina Maxwell
Georgina Maxwell
Georgina Maxwell

My art practice draws attention to the suffering and imminent extinction of cetaceans and other marine wildlife within a plastic-profit-driven society.
More than four billion tons of non-biodegradable plastic is dumped in the oceans every year. The womb of Gaia, our ancient, empathic mother spits out
toxins day by day, tide by tide…a cry for help.. I have been collecting marine debris from the Cornish coastlines for the past eleven years.

During my research into chemical compounds inherent in plastics, it became apparent that marine pollution is responsible for, not only the ingestion and entanglement, but also the leaching of dioxins causing diseases such as cancer, endocrine disruption, immune system failure and other debilitating, fatal illnesses to innocent, intelligent, sentient marine life.

The oceans were the beginning of life on Earth and symbolize formlessness, the unfathomable chaos. It can also be seen as a symbol of stability, existing largely unchanged for centuries. The ocean was considered to be vast and infinite, a place where we can easily be lost and that representsthe boundless span of life and the way we can become disorientated on our journey through life. Is this what most of society have become?

Joseph Beuys believed that if guilt involves a death wish, then empathy restores the wish for life. It involves the projection of our own life into the suffering of a dead victim, in recognition, no matter how overdue, of a common mutual bond and interrelatedness. He believed that the victimizers must put themselves in the place of the victim, suffer what the victim
suffered and die as the victim died, not literally, but internally.

Do we deny ourselves and other species a future or do we recognize and accept responsibility and compassion?

‘Butts on the Beach’

This art work began in the winter of 2007 and was completed in February 2008
Cigarette filters collected from Gyllyngvase beach and outside Falmouth pubs on the pavements and roads leading to storm drains.
In 2006, 1.9 million butts were recorded from beaches around the world
(Ocean Conservancy, 2007)
Each filter is made up of cellulose acetate plastic and contains more than
12,000 fibres.

After being smoked, all butts contain known carcinogens in tobacco such as nitrosamines, quinoline, benzpyrene, cadmium, ammonia, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic and hydrogen sulfide. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1989 and other sources)

These toxins leach into the ocean water and into the stomachs of marine life. Marine biologists are researching why large numbers of seals have cancerous tumors causing a slow, painful death for these intelligent, sentient creatures.
Falmouth Art Gallery have bought a 1/1 print of ‘Butts on the Beach’ for their permanent collection. A 4 minute documentary has also been made of the
processes involved in creating this piece.

‘Target’ 

Thousands of seals are shot or badly wounded in Scottish waters every year, not including those shot at salmon netting stations or by District Salmon Fishery Boards.

Seals are also shot during the breeding season. A bullet may kill an adult seal outright but for any still dependent pup their ultimate death is preceded by slow, painful starvation and untold misery.

‘Ode to the Oceans’ and ‘Ode to an Albatross’

Hundreds of plastic lighters have been found in the stomachs of albatross carcasses. The noble albatross, mate for life and live up to 40 years old. The male flies thousands of miles to fish for food for their single chick, sometimes due to being hooked on tuna net baits, he will never return. If he is lucky enough to survive the harsh, over-fished, polluted oceans, he will
regurgitate plastic lighters and many other small plastic objects, mistaken as nutritious prey to feed to the chick, causing death by starvation.

EDUCATION

2006-08      
University College Falmouth. Cornwall
M.A. Fine Art: Contemporary Practice
1986-89       
Central Saint Martin’s College of Art. London.
B.A. (Hons) Fine Art based Constructed Textiles.    
1983-84      
Maidenhead College of Art and Design. Berkshire.
Foundation Course.  

SOLO SHOWS
2009            
‘Fishing for Litter’ initiative. Filming on Newlyn fishing boats
‘Plastic Planet Blues’ King Harry Ferry. Embark Ferry Art. Cornwall
‘Fishing for Litter’ collaboration Newlyn Fish Festival. Cornwall.  
Ponsharden jetty and embarking shelter. Site-specific, participatory, textual
art-activism.
‘Cries from the Toxic Oceans 2’ art-activist texts onboard 5 St.Mawes ferries & park & float ferries. Falmouth. Cornwall
Fal River Festival. Greenbanks Hotel. Art Installation

2008             
Porthtowan clean and survey ten day art/photo project for Surfers Against Sewage
‘Cries from the Toxic Oceans’ Site-specific, art-activist event at the British Plastics
Federation H.Q. Hackney. London, (Chemical Policy Conference)                                                                  

‘Womb of Gaia: Moment by Moment, Breath by Breath’ meditation walk. Gwithian

2007           
Project Space. Arwenack. U.C.F. Falmouth. Cornwall
Site-Specific, art-activist texts sea front railings. Jubilee Pool to Newlyn Art Gallery.

2004            
The Dissenters’ Chapel Gallery. Kensal Green. Londo
The Questors Theatre. West Ealing. London

2002            
Penzance Art Club. Chapel Street. Penzance. Cornwall

2001            
Pause Organic Café/Gallery. Shoreditch. London

1997            
The Centre for Alternative Technology. Machynlleth. Wales

1996           
Junk Sculptures, site-specific. Woon Gumpus Common. Pendeen. Cornwall

1995            
Site-specific performance. Fox road kills and ceremonies. Woon Gumpus. Pendeen. Cornwall.

GROUP SHOWS            
2010
"Affordable Art Fair, Batterseain, March 2010"
The Exchange Gallery. Prince Street. Penzance.

2009            
‘The Way We Are: A Museum of Now.’ NXNW Art Festival. Wigan. Manchester         
‘Darwin 200. Voyages of Discovery’. Falmouth Art Gallery. Cornwall.

2008             
M.A. Show. Lamorva House. University College Falmouth
Penzance Art Club. Chapel St. Penzance

2007             
Revolver. Penzance. Cornwall
‘Helix Hybrid’ site specific spiral staircase. Interim Show. U.C.F. Falmouth. Cornwall  
The Standard. Flushing Art Week. Cornwall
Surfers Against Sewage (S.A.S.) HQ. St. Agnes. Cornwall

2006             
Gwithian Beach collaboration with S.A.S.
The Salt Gallery. Fore St. Hayle. Cornwall

2005             
Summer Show. Penzance Art Club. Chapel St. Penzance. Cornwall.

2003            
Sancreed House/The Old Rectory. Sancreed. Cornwall
Fabrications Gallery. Broadway Market. Hackney. London. WC1

2001             
Salthouse Gallery. St. Ives. Cornwall
Spring Gallery. Falmouth Art Centre. Falmouth. Cornwall

2000             
Penzance Art Club. Chapel St. Penzance. Cornwall
The Eclipse Gallery. Penzance. Cornwall

1999
Friends of the Earth Gallery Space. Penzance. Cornwall
The Bakehouse Gallery. Chapel St. Penzance. Cornwall

1997             
The Market Garden Gallery. Bread St. Penzance. Cornwall

Royal Cornwall Show. Wadebridge. Cornwall

Radio Cornwall Foyey. Truro. Cornwall

1995             
Mulabalu Gallery. Redruth. Cornwall
The Foyey, Truro College. Truro. Cornwall

1993            

The Spring Gallery. Falmouth Art Centre. Falmouth. Cornwall

1992             
Art Space Gallery. Portobello Rd. Notting Hill. London.

Le Metro. Notting Hill Gate. London

1991            
The Oasis Gallery. Georgia. USA
Olympia. Mind, Body and Spirit Exhibition. Kensington. London

1990            
The Asahi Gallery. Golbourne Rd. Portobello. London.

1989            
BA Show. Central St. Martins College of Art. Southampton Row. London 

PUBLICATIONS

2010
A-n magazine March issue
Aesthetica magazine April issue

2009            
www.newlyn.info. ‘Artist helps highlight the problem of plastic marine pollution’
The Herald. ‘Plastic’s not so fantastic’
The West Briton. ‘Artist embarks on ferry to convey message through work’
Cornish Guardian. ’Artist raises awareness on King Harry Ferry
Western Morning News ‘‘Fishing for Litter’ collaborates with contemporary artist’
‘The Way We Are: A Museum of Now’ North by North Western (NXNW) catalogue
Fal River Festival events catalogue
EMBARK Ferry Art catalogue
‘Drift’ surf magazine
The West Briton ’Celebrating the Darwin Connection’
‘Inside Cornwall’ magazine.
‘ Darwin 200.Voyages of Discovery’ Falmouth Art Gallery catalogue                       
Surfers Against Sewage website article. ’Return to Offender’
Nigel Ayers online review                              

2008             
Revolver Art Cornwall. U.C.F.
Pipeline S.A.S. magaz ine. collection of 10,000 plastic pellets in a bottle
Master the Arts.2009. University College Falmouth Postgraduate Prospectus.

2007            
The Cornishman ’Surfers Against Sewage collaborate with ‘eco-artist’
POST. 1st Edition. 

2006             
The Cornishman. ‘’Eco-artist’ staging beach tidy’

2002             
Hip Hotels Guide. Herbert Ypma. Thames and Hudson.

PERMANENT COLLECTION
2009            
Falmouth Art Gallery. Cornwall

2009
Cornwall College. Camborne. Cornwall.  Visiting Lecturer on art practice