1. Tim Noble and Sue Webster

Background information on Tim and Sue from Artworksforchange.org:

Tim Noble and Sue Webster are artists from London known for their creative use of trash, light, and shadow. They often create art from piles of discarded objects that look like a messy collection at first. These piles remind us of the leftovers from a party. However, when light shines on them, they cast clear shadows that form self-portraits of the artists, showing their connection to the waste they use. Their work challenges us to think about how we treat waste and our habits of consumption. Instead of seeing these items as garbage, Noble and Webster collect things like broken furniture and crates, turning them into unique pieces of art. This process gives us hope that we can find new uses for what we throw away.Overall, their art encourages us to reconsider our relationship with waste and highlights the importance of creativity in solving environmental problems. Through their innovative techniques, they show that even trash can be transformed into something meaningful.

Here are some artworks from the duo that I particularly enjoy and admire:

(Dirty White Trash) Tim and Sue 1998

This work here is called ‘Dirty White Trash’, and I like it because one they used these trash to create two people sitting with their backs against each other with one of them holding a bottle of whine, which I suppose can mean the carelessness of people nowadays that we don’t care about where we put our trash and how we dispose of it. Another reason why I like this art is that it is completely made from the two artist’s trash that they’ve gathered over the course of 6 months. This artwork is created in 1998.

(Wasted Youth) Tim and Sue 2000

This is another piece of their art that is really cool to me. It is called ‘Wasted Youth’, and we can see that in the shadow there are two young teens and one is lying on the other’s body. This artwork by Tim and Sue shows us the problems in teen life and also the problem in the food that we are choosing to eat. The two artists chose to use the disposed trashes of unhealthy foods and drinks to create a shadow of teenagers. This shows that our food choices are sometimes not the best thing to eat and are all quite unhealthy for our body, and in the artwork it shows that these are the things that add up in our body that would lead into a ‘wasted youth’.

(Wild Mood Swings) Tim and Sue 2009-2010

‘Wild Mood Swings’ is another very interesting art/photo from the two artists. The image is to show two teens that are sitting on stools with their back to each other. I like this one because the disposed objects are a really great representation of a wild mood, since they are broken-up pieces of wood and wire. When put together, by looking at the objects in the pile we don’t see anything but a messy pile of wood and wire, but when our eyes move to the shadows, we notice perfect reflections of teens sitting. This could symbolize that fact that even some of us look calm and strong on the outside, our inner selves could have already broken down, and just not wanting others to see it.