Jeni Reid’s Microplastics in Dear Earth at Kirkcaldy Galleries
Jeni Reid
Jeni Reid’s work Microplastics has been created from images of waste, particularly plastics, collected from the artist’s local beach. Crafted by careful digital manipulation of photographs, using layering, distorting and mirroring, Reid has created new forms from her plastic finds that resemble microscopic organisms swimming in petri dishes. Through this work, Reid asks us to reflect on the permanent presence of plastics and ‘forever chemicals’ existing in our environment.
The print colour, Cobalt Blue, is named after a mineral used in rechargeable batteries, which are essential for making sustainable technologies such as electric cars and bicycles, although these often end up in landfill waste despite their high demand.
Biography
Jeni Reid is a visual artist working in a variety of media including digital photography, cyanotype, patchwork and hand-spinning fibre. Based in Arbroath, they have an HND in Photography from Dundee & Angus College. Reid is interested in material culture, the weirdness of everyday things and the power of small stories. Their work explores ideas around whose stories are told, who and what is valued and who is left out.
Reid has exhibited in Dundee, Forfar and Arbroath, including a solo exhibition Props For An Imagined Life at Forfar Meffan Museum in 2024. Their ongoing project Undiscovered Angus can be viewed on Twitter and Instagram.
They are easily distracted by seagulls.