Date – 2223

Place – Grangemouth

This objects significance is closely linked to where it was originally found. Grangemouth was a 20/21st century post industrial town in Scotland. The site of many toxic industries (oil/coal/power generation) had left a catastrophic legacy in the town resulting in depleted natural diversity, soil damage and polluted water courses that had huge implications for public health in an area of poverty and lack of educational opportunities.

Astroturf, a synthetic grass was used as an ironic symbol of what was wrong with the town and the struggling populations anger and defiance. (Ironic – because grass was unable to grow in the areas polluted soil)

A memorial garden was created using astroturf as a symbolic gesture and local activists started networking with similar groups at sites of industrial damage across the world from Alaska to Borneo. This particular sample of synthetic grass was sent to the local member of the Scottish parliament and led indirectly to the policy of ‘the polluter pays’ being fully implemented and enforced within the following decade.

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