"Nothing Is Disposable" is a collection of works on paper that explore our changing attitudes to food production and consumption.

I chose traditional print making techniques to illustrate the discarded debris of our mealtimes in order to mass produce them again in their discarded state.

Image courtesy of Yosra El- Essawy

Gathering a collection of discarded food packaging from the streets of my neighborhood in Brooklyn, I began to make compositions with them. Some were abstract whilst others instinctively took the form of a table setting. Egg boxes, soda cans, cup lids and take-out containers. Flattened by traffic, run over by life, they are strangely beautiful, pieces of ready made art.

Image courtesy of Yosra El-Essawy

Many of the images are collagraphs whereby a plate is made from the actual object, then inked and run through a press. The primary colors gave them a decorative feel far removed from their state as rubbish.

Image courtesy of Yosra El-Essawy

Image courtesy of Yosra El-Essawy

Diptych. Screen print, collagragh and collage on paper. 

Each panel 22 x 30 inches. Edition of 1.

Image courtesy of Yosra El-Essawy

Collograph and Silk Screen on paper.

19 x 70 inches. Edition of 1.

The introduction of old dinnerware harks back to a bygone era when mealtime was a more elaborate affair. Their ornate decoration are juxtaposed against the utility and abstraction of the packaging.

Image courtesy of Yosra El-Essawy

Collagraph, silk screen and photo etching on paper. 

19 x 70 inches. Edition of 1.

Triptych. Screen print and collagraph on paper.

Each panel 22 x 30 inches.

Edition of 1.

Collagraph and silkscreen on paper.

22 x 30 inches. Edition of 1.