2024

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Info about the work:

This photograph is part of my The Hidden Costs of Wellness series where I photographed the used (sterilized) IV bags from my 3-year Lyme Disease treatment out in nature (and re-collected them each time afterwards).

The work aims to spark conversation around the magnitude of costs for treatments like the one she endured which ultimately harm the Earth, yet stem from rising health epidemics that are very much due to lack of connection with the Earth. For example, as the Earth continues to warm, co-infections will increase, particularly for Lyme as ticks will not die out annually. Every year, the Washington DC area hosts more ticks, and therefore, witnesses a direct increase in health epidemics carried by ticks.

Most IV bags are non-biohazardous waste, so are usually thrown into landfills. As just one patient, my Lyme treatment resulted in over 250 separate IV sittings, and each sitting used 2-5 IV bags total. As I began researching the medical waste industry and its impacts on our Earth, ironically, the beaches closest to Washington DC closed to the public due to medical waste contamination (Ocean City, September 2024).

In December 2024, during Miami Art Week, I created a performance tanning on the beach next to a pile of her IV bags and using them as a raft in the sea to demonstrate how vulnerable our beaches are to medical contamination.

This plastic island nods to the countless mounds of plastic floating around in our oceans and washing ashore.