Wasted Resolve, an installation created by Dyvia Murthy and Nicola Parente for the front Gallery of Art League Houston, is inspired by a 2008 New York Times article that ranked Houston as the worst recycler among the nation’s 30 largest cities. The intent was to make the viewer more aware of our city’s waste consumption and to create a dialogue with the audience that focuses attention on the importance of reducing waste.

Wasted Resolve demonstrates the need for increased efforts to recycle synthetic and non-biodegradable material and reduce levels of local waste production and is a visual categorized summary of un-recycled waste created from debris collected during a week long period from an eight-block area surrounding Art League Houston. The numbers on the wall compare Houston’s recycling efforts to other major US cities and the “trash graph” is composed of discarded items collected in just one week from the neighborhood surrounding Art League Houston. Both serve as a small reminder that the responsibility to clean up lies with the individual and our individual communities.