Glasgow (AFP)

Because they "reveal so much about our lifestyle" and to warn about their impact on the environment, British artist Katrina Cobain has put a collection of plastic bags online, while waiting to be able to open a museum.

Delicately, as if she were handling an old and precious object, Katrina Cobain unwraps her parcel and carefully places the plastic bags it contains on a display table in a makeshift workshop, installed in a former pipe factory in the east of the Scottish city of Glasgow.

For the 24-year-old artist, these objects, insignificant at first glance, actually tell all of our modern history.

This is why she has been collecting them for two years, with the idea of ​​one day opening a plastic bag museum.

"The idea came to me when I thought about the fact that our landscapes will one day be the archaeological sites of the future for our civilization, and that they will be filled with plastic," she told AFP .

"They reveal so much about our way of life over the past 60 years, in terms of consumption and social history", explains the young artist, who is enthusiastic about their ability to reflect "key historical events or important changes in graphic styles ".

When Katrina Cobain announced her intention to open a museum, she found herself drowned in plastic bags sent from all over the world.

His collection includes bags from New York or dating from the former Soviet Union.

She also received numerous bags commemorating special events, such as the supersonic flight of the Concorde or the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana in 1981.

"I don't know why we made bags commemorating the royal wedding," she laughs.

"It shows the level of production at the time!"

- Objects of the past -

In her huge collection, the bag to which she values ​​the most comes from the British chain of department stores Woolworths where, as a child, she bought her CDs.

The almost century-old institution had to close its 800 stores in 2008, victim of the financial crisis.

A very significant moment for Katrina Cobain.

Despite his love for plastic bags, the artist is nevertheless impatiently awaiting the disappearance of these objects "very harmful to the environment".

"Photos show the quantities of plastic bags in the oceans and how they disturb animal habitats," she laments.

"They are just incredibly not environmentally friendly to produce and use," says Katrina Cobain, hoping that devoting a museum to them "will help people understand that these objects are a thing of the past."

His plan to put on an exhibition has been thwarted by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

But far from being defeated, she then embarked on an online exhibition, considering confinement as the perfect time to photograph her collection, set up a website and put her museum online.

She hopes to be able to open a physical exhibition soon, congratulating herself for the moment that everyone can admire her collection on the internet.

“I think that the further we advance in time, the more plastic bags will disappear completely,” says Katrina Cobain.

"And when they're gone, that's where they'll be most interesting."

© 2020 AFP