Kalliopi Monoyios
Induced Demand, 2024
single-use plastic packaging, polyester thread 28' x 8'
Consider this: every single piece of plastic ever made is still on this planet somewhere today, save the estimated 11% that has been incinerated with municipal waste. We are now facing almost 75 years of plastic production and every year we pump new plastic into the world. Induced Demand is a fine art infographic designed to show how the plastic industry is pumping increasing amounts of plastic into the system each year. Each circular quilt represents one year of plastic production globally. The area of the circle is proportional to how much new plastic was manufactured worldwide in a given year—e.g. 50 million metric tons in 1975 vs 451 million metric tons in 2018. The colorful circle inside each data point represents the estimated 40% that was used for packaging (short-hand for single-use plastic). The small black dot associated with each quilt represents the ~8% that was recycled.
Kalliopi Monoyios
Full Body Necklace, Computer Cord Lace, 2024
Discarded cords & wires, cotton thread one-size-fits most (neck circumference 13")
What is fashion if not planned obsolescence? We dutifully keep up with the styles, tempted by cheap clothing to update our wardrobes despite old clothes still being useful. What else do we throw away before its useful life is over? This elaborate lace is fashioned out of discarded computer and smart device accessory cords, almost all of which were functional when they were thrown away. By repurposing them into an unusual and beautiful statement piece and adorning a 40-something woman in what could be a wedding outfit, I ask what we value and why.
Kalliopi Monoyios
Teflon Chains Dress, 2024
telephone and stereo wires, tv cables, Teflon tape size 4-6
This dress made of Teflon and trash (discarded telephone and stereo cords), is simultaneously seductive and repellent, playing on the tension Teflon poses as a material that is both vital to industry and detrimental to the environment.
Kalliopi Monoyios
Drops in the Ocean, 2020
single-use plastic packaging, polyester thread 10.5'w x 5.5'h
Quilts were always made from the scraps of our lives, so it follows that today’s quilts should be constructed not of brand new fabric that is cut into pieces, but from the scraps that fill our trash bags: single-use plastic. In this quilt, concentric rings of warm and cool blues burst out of the 9x9 grid of a traditional quilting pattern, symbolizing how this material we’ve invented has escaped our ability to contain it, particularly in our waterways. .
Kalliopi Monoyios
Use Less/Useless I, 2021
"treeless" polypropylene paper, PTFE (Teflon) dental floss 20"w x 26"h
Teflon is one of the most environmentally persistent chemicals we have invented yet we use it for 30 seconds to floss our teeth. This series of embroideries asks whether it is better used to create timeless statements in art.
Kalliopi Monoyios
Cabochon, 2023
single-use plastic packaging, polyester thread 13" in diameter
The delicate layers of a geode take hundreds of years to form, increasing in complexity as waves of mineral-laden water wash through spaces in rock. Likewise, the complexity of our entanglement with plastic has taken close to a century to form, quietly, out of sight, and is only now being revealed.
Kalliopi Monoyios
One Way Street, 2023
172 single-use plastic bags, polyester backing & thread size 6 with a 6'foot train
This quilted jacket is made from rescued single-use plastic trash and second-hand fabric. The intricate pattern devolves at the end of the 6-foot long train into tatters, pointing out that whether we use plastic for 5 seconds or 50 years, it's all a One Way Street street to trash.
Kalliopi Monoyios
Accumulated Depreciation, 2022
Discarded cords & wires, PTFE (Teflon) tape, stereo wire variable
Accumulated Depreciation is composed of discarded cords of all types — casualties of planned obsolescence. I coil and wrap them in Teflon tape, then bind them into collections of cells that divide and grow, taking on a life of their own.
Kalliopi Monoyios
Landlines, 2022
Old telephone & stereo cords, PTFE tape, wire, reed 25 in. x 25 in. x 31 in.
Inspired by the lyrical forms of Japanese bamboo baskets, this sculpture is created from discarded telephone and stereo wires. In the same way that baskets have fallen out of humanity’s list of essential items, so too have telephone and stereo wires as technology replaces them with cell phones and bluetooth devices. How quickly we discard these technologies that have supported humankind when the next exciting thing comes along. I wonder what our society would look like if we made more of a commitment to the objects we decided to purchase, if we felt an obligation to them in the same way that we feel obliged to each other. Would we be as inundated with stuff we don’t need or want? Would we face the same plastic pollution problem?
Kalliopi Monoyios
Year of Plastic, Family of Four, 2021
single-use plastic packaging, polyester thread 26' x 26'
Beginning in January 2019, a family of four collected their plastic for me for an entire year. Each 2’ wide banner represents the plastic they would have thrown in the trash each month.
