Plastic Galaxy

Shards of a Rotten Society

Plastic Galaxy is an ongoing series of artist Alessandro Puccinelli, starting in 2023 in the shorelines of Portugal. Though rooted in a specific geography, the work speaks to a global condition. It reflects on new materialism, environmental crisis, and the poetic violence of capitalist production. The series forms part of a broader investigation into plastic that Pucinelli initiated in 2010. His practice, marked by returning, both thematically and physically, resists closure. Like the material he documents, his images linger. There is an almost forensic quality to his revisits, mirroring the unresolved presence of plastic in the environment. Working exclusively with a handheld digital camera, Puccinelli captures each image with precision and proximity. “My priority,” he says, “is to get as close as possible to the subject.” The resulting images hover between document and illusion. Against black volcanic sand, the microplastics, often carried and deposited by cargo ships, resemble fragments of celebration: confetti, jewels, luxury items. At times, they shimmer like constellations in a synthetic night sky, emblems of the hyperreal and the spectacular. In another reading, these particles appear as war-torn heroes, returned from battles – damaged, exhausted, yet still present, awaiting proper disposal (a final gesture of dignity?). This tension, between seductive surface and traumatic residue, forms the conceptual core of Plastic Galaxy. Nature, through wind, sun, and storm, acts as a haunting collaborator, carrying these particles across time and territory like reluctant messengers of our age.
Text Erka Shalari

Note on Presentation and Scale
The images are intended to be printed large—over two meters—to achieve their full visual and emotional impact. From a distance, they may appear abstract or celestial; up close, their unsettling material reality emerges. Accurate presentation requires high-quality printing and dark, nearly black backgrounds—details that screens and inconsistent lighting conditions cannot faithfully reproduce.