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PLASTIC AORTAS BY MALIC AMALYA

PLASTIC AORTAS is a portrait of the black plastic lining the Fells Reservoir in the unceded land of the Massachusett, Pawtucket, and Naumkeag indigenous peoples. The lining was placed there by conservationists to mitigate the invasive Common Reed, which is killing native plants. However, the lining also interferes with wildlife and contaminates the water.

The title references Roland Barthes' 1957 essay, "Plastic," in which he writes, “The hierarchy of substances is abolished: a single one replaces them all: the whole world can be plasticized, and even life itself since, we are told, they are beginning to make plastic aortas.” 65 years later, in 2022, microplastic pollutants were found in human blood and, in 2023, in human heart tissue.

In this 16mm film, tension rises between the benefits and hazards of plastic or, as Barthes describes, between life and plastic.

Visceral and cacophonous, Malic Amalya’s films traverse gritty landscapes of abandoned buildings, blast zones, and back rooms. Situated between non-linear avant-garde traditions, the oppositional and self-reflective aesthetic considerations of queercore, and an intersectional feminist politic, he creates single channel and expanded cinema performances across 16mm and Super 8 film, digital and analog video, and 35mm slides. Malic’s creative framework is informed by prison abolition, decolonization, anti-racism, gender self-determination, disability justice, anti-capitalism, and climate justice. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, Malic is an Assistant Professor of Experimental Media and Film Production at Emerson College.

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