REMOVING REFUSE
by iki nakawaga
watch time: 9 minutes
Removing Refuse is an excerpt from the documentation of the event "Kaiser Park Coastal Cleanup" organized by NYC Parks and Coney Island Beautification Project on August 14, 2023. Volunteers worked for three hours in Kaiser Park, the creek by Kaiser Park, and the western part of the creek. This documentation focuses cleaning actions taking place on the western part of the creek.
The video features items found on the creek, most of which drifts into the creek from streets and sewage pipes. The video also features people picking up refused item as an effort to clean the cost line which provides vital habitats for wildlife.
This video is a work that comes out of iki’s ongoing project entitled “thoughts for tomorrow, movements for today” to witness, learn, honor, archive and activate ideas and actions that shape respect and care between people and their living environments.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
iki nakagawa is an artist who practices videography as a means of witnessing, embodying, processing and translating ideas, actions and situation in which they thrive. She has been working as a professional archival videographer, and worked with numerous cultural institution in NYC and beyond. Her works have been shown at places including The Nature of Cities Festival, MuseumofAmericabooks, Panoply Performance Laboratory, the Vermont Public Television, the Kitchen, Harvestwsorks, Asia Society, Museum of Chinese in America and FEED Media Art Center. She was 2021-2022 Associated Artist at Culture Push, and was a parent Artist in Residence at Brooklyn Art Exchange for the Fall of 2021. She is Very grateful to have been collaborating with Nora since 2019 and for the inclusion in the Push/Pull publication.
Next Chapter in this Issue: Embodied Research in Coney Island Creek — Jordan Packer
PUSH/PULL is an online journal published by Culture Push, a virtual venue that allows us to present a variety of perspectives on civic engagement, social practice, and other issues that need attention. PUSH/PULL helps to situate Fellows and Associated Artists and the work they do within a critical discourse, and acts as a forum for an ongoing dialogue between Culture Push artists, the Culture Push community, and the world at large.