There’s Art in That Trash, at Least in One Philadelphia Dump

Recycling center fosters inspiration from the stuff people leave behind.

Featured on wsj.com

Performance artist Martha McDonald has done a residency at Johns Hopkins University. Her art is in the collection of the State Library of Victoria, Australia. She has displayed her work at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery.

Now she’s the official artist-in-residence at a Philadelphia garbage dump.

Revolution Recovery is an oddity in both the art and dump worlds, a grimy transfer and recycling facility that has become patron to artists seeking an ample supply of trash and a place to turn it into something more than it was.

At first, Ms. McDonald, a 52-year-old accustomed to being artistic in clean places, wondered if she was really up for foraging for materials in a 40-foot-tall pile of trash.

“It took me a while to get used to it—now I’m the biggest pig in the puddle,” said Ms. McDonald, sorting through a fresh load last week in camouflage overalls, a high-visibility vest and yellow hard-hat.

She plans to take visitors on a musical tour of the dump, turning clothes and family photos found in the trash into art displays conjuring up the imagined lives of those whose belongings wound up there.

“Trash is really interesting,” said Fern Gookin, the dump’s director of sustainability. “Somebody might die or be evicted and suddenly the contents of somebody’s life are in front of you. It’s pretty heavy.”

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