Black Gold
During their residency at San Francisco Recology, Hughen/Starkweather investigated the environmental impacts of discarded food waste and food packaging. As part of their research, they visited compost facilities and met with specialists and environmentalists. They collected discarded, single-use, plastic food packaging at the dump, and using ink and pencil, traced the plastic food packaging onto paper in repeated shapes, creating abstract artworks that reference impacted landscapes and biochemical processes. These artworks were exhibited alongside source materials from the artists’ research including a library of books about compost and food waste, a slideshow of related information, and wall text that included quotes from the artists’ interviews and other data. 

When food is discarded into landfill it produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas. But as compost, food waste is converted into soil carbon, and can also greatly reduce the need for chemical fertilizers. As a reference to both compost and plastic food packaging, which has serious environmental impacts worldwide, the series is titled Black Gold: a term commonly used for compost (referring to its dark color and high value), and a term also used for petroleum, a primary ingredient in plastic food packaging.

Food, Landfill, Methane, Ink, pencil, compost, and gouache on paper, 35 x 30 in., 2018
“Once food reaches the landfills, the scraps begin to decompose, releasing methane gas into the atmosphere. Methane gas has a warming potential of roughly 21 times that of carbon dioxide, meaning it has an even larger impact on the global climate than CO2.” Anna Martin, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University

Like straws sipping carbon from the air
16.75 x 12.5 in., Ink, acrylic, gouache, compost, and colored pencil on paper, 2018

“Creque had an answer for him. The carbohydrates that fattened the cows had come from the atmosphere, by way of the grass they ate. Grasses, he liked to say, were like straws sipping carbon from the air, bringing it back to earth. Creque’s quiet observation stuck with Wick and Rathmann. It clearly illustrated a concept that Creque had repeatedly tried to explain to them: Carbon, the building block of life, was constantly flowing from atmosphere to plants into animals and then back into the atmosphere. And it hinted at something that Wick and Rathmann had yet to consider: Plants could be deliberately used to pull carbon out of the sky.” Velasquez-Manoff, Moises, “Can Dirt Save the earth?” The New York Times, 18 April 2018

Creatures big and mobile enough to flee
Ink, gouache, acrylic paint, compost, and pencil on paper, 34 x 34 in., 2018

“Like a tornado spinning through a small town, the churning steel of the plow scrambles microbial communities, separating and disorganizing symbiotic partners, chasing out worms and other creatures big and mobile enough to flee.” Horn, Mirian, Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman: Conservation Heroes of the American Heartland, W.W. Norton Foundation, 2016

The other greenhouse gas
Ink, acrylic, pencil, and gouache on paper, 35.75 x 46 in., 2018

Secret Superpower
16h x 20 in., Ink, acrylic, compost, gouache, colored pencil on paper, 2018

Breathing methane gas
Ink, colored pencil, compost, and gouache on paper, 7.5 x 8.25 in., 2018

Bleeding carbon
Ink, pencil, acrylic paint, compost, and gouache on paper, 61 x 42 in., 2018

Airtight wraps
Ink, colored pencil, gouache, compost and acrylic paint on Gampi paper, 12 x 11 in., 2018

“The disposable plastic products we use everyday can take over 400 years to biodegrade. The booming production of plastics in recent years, partly fueled by demand for single-use items such as coffee cups and bottled water, means the world has manufactured more plastic in the last decade than in the whole of the previous century.” Wright, Mike. “The stark truth about how long your plastic footprint will last on the planet,” The London Telegraph, 10 January 2018