Photos By Gail

The perfect package fresh from the dry cleaners contains a garment free from mites, dirt, wrinkles, and any other signs of human life. Both laundered object and smells are contained – captured – underneath a thin plastic sheen. A necessitated by-product of office life, dry cleaners dot every neighborhood in New York City, their large windows opening onto racks of hung garments, pressed together, sterile, separated and contained by layers and layers of that shining, thin plastic – low density polyethylene, also known as LDPE plastic # four.

Metric tons of polyethylene inhabit earths landfills – these hundreds of layers of shining plastic seen through the windows of a dry cleaner shop, multiplied by millions, are single use, non-biodegradable, and will remain on our planet for an eternity. Like the living dead, this thin plastic material creates dead zones in the natural world, lingering long past its time as a lethal reminder of our excess.

In (dirty-clean) Cleaners (2019–2023), artist Laure Drogoul re-purposes thousands of these shining, reflective single-use bags to create an immersive, organic installation. Tubes of phosphorescent, neon lighting, like those used in neon signs, that grace the windows of dry cleaning establishments highlight the seductive nature of the material, and the seduction of convenience that allows the material to remain in use, despite the harm to our planet. The cavernous, ethereal purgatory created in Drogoul’s installation encases the viewer in the shiny polyethylene that contains our “cleanest” items, and highlights to the viewer the toxic cost of our consumption.

Photographed at Spring Break Art Show in the Summer of 2023.