Kolaj LIVE Online: Trash as Material

In October, Kolaj Institute opened an inquiry into Trash as Material. We brought together six artists in New Orleans to visit The Green Project and learn about how they process unwanted building materials and waste paint. They heard from New Orleans artist Jill Stoll about her "Lost Women" series and how she makes large woven artworks using post-consumer cardboard waste. The artists made artwork that is part of the exhibition, "Trash as Material" at Kolaj Institute Gallery 25 October to 29 November 2025. 

During this edition of Kolaj LIVE Online, we will hear from some of the artists in the exhibition. Johanna Merfeld (Great Barrington, Massachusetts, USA) will speak about how she came to use reclaimed corrugated cardboard from the New Orleans Healing Center and rework it into topographical maps. Lauren Crasco (San Francisco, California, USA) will speak about what she learned processing oyster shells collected from St. Roch Market and using them in the landscape assemblage, Cultch: Estuary. Lindsay M Walker (Houston, Texas, USA) will speak about how she made trash assemblages in every color of the rainbow to speak about the current political environment queer people are living in. Lance Rothstein (Clearwater, Florida, USA) will speak about his practice of collecting litter when he travels and using that to make collage. He wrote, "I find my work to be an archaeology of sorts. I'm constantly picking up and analyzing the remnants left behind by other people and reassembling them to make new relationships."

Exhibition Curator and Kolaj Institute director Ric Kasini Kadour will speak about Trash as Materials project and how artists "are asking us to think deeply about the Trash in our lives, how it came to be, and what happens after we discard it," He wrote, "There is something magical about taking a piece of trash and turning it into a thing of beauty or intrigue. Perhaps, if we can learn to perform that magic with Trash, then we can perform it with other things in our world as well."

ABOUT COLLAGE IN POLITICS

Politics in Collage is a series of residencies, publications, discussions, and exhibitions examining complex socio-political issues that contemporary society is contending with, in order to spark meaningful dialogue and inspire deeper engagement.

ABOUT KOLAJ LIVE ONLINE

Kolaj LIVE Online is a series of virtual programs in the form of forums, panels, workshops, artist talks, studio visits, and other activities that allow people to come together, learn and talk about collage, and connect in real time to the collage community. Our goal is to bring the community together in a spirit of mutual support and fellowship.Kolaj LIVE Online manifests Kolaj Magazine and Kolaj Institute by bringing together artists, curators, and writers to share ideas that deepen our understanding of collage as a medium, a genre, a community, and a 21st century movement. Learn more at the SERIES WEBSITE.