“Garment Bag(hag)” considers the afterlife of manmade materials. The performance is a response to the copious amount of single-use plastic that is used to swaddle clean clothes in the cleaning industry. The clear, flimsy bags are exempt from plastic bag bans in states like California, New York, Hawaii, and most recently, Baltimore, MD. Our urban landscape houses multiple dry-cleaning establishments that generate hundreds of single-use polyethylene plastic bags daily. Once removed from the garment, the bags are immediately thrown in the trash and end up in landfills, where each bag lasts for over 1000 years, an environmental legacy that may last forever.

During the performance, I embody the spirit of plastic past. Wearing a garment made of repurposed plastic bags and walking the streets from cleaner to cleaner, I offer a hanger and a garment bag as a reminder of possible solution. “Garment Bag(hag)” reflects upon the daily routines of domesticity and the hidden consequences of the cleaning establishments that affect our environment.