Mabel Pena

This bracelet by Mabel Pena represents the wetlands of Latin America, which play an important role in maintaining biodiversity and managing flooding. To create this work, she manipulated recycled plastic bags to achieve various textures, dyeing them colors that appear both natural and shockingly artificial—even poisonous. Pena translates images of plastic bags tangled in branches or drifting in the sea into pieces of jewelry. These works raise awareness about how careless waste disposal affects fragile ecosystems that are struggling to survive pollution, land development, and climate change, among other human threats.

–Emily Banas, associate curator of decorative arts and design