New Randolph exhibit focuses on marine plastic pollution

Museum and heritage studies students help install the exhibit “Entangled and Ingested.”

Kat Owens, a plastic pollution researcher, artist, and activist, will visit Randolph College this month for several events linked to an exhibition of her work.

Entangled and Ingested, which opened Jan. 12 in Hampson Commons, located in the Student Center, features seven life-sized collage portraits using plastic film to document animals that are harmed by marine plastic pollution.

Owens, whose work merges science, policy, and the arts, is a National Geographic Explorer, a Fulbright Nehru fellow, and a professor at the University of Hartford in Connecticut.

She was on campus in late January to give the lecture “Entangled and Ingested: The Art and Science of Plastic Pollution” and lead a craftivism workshop.

Kat Owens poses with one of her collages.

During the workshop, participants contributed to a life-sized mixed media collage, created with plastic waste hand-sewn to canvas and depicting animals harmed by the entanglement and ingestion of plastic.

The exhibition and related events are a collaboration among Randolph’s environmental science and studies department, marine science program, Campus Events Committee, and the Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College.

Students in Andrea Campbell’s museum and heritage studies class also assisted Maier staff in installing the exhibit, which runs through May 20.