‘At What Point…’ reflects Maria Phillips’s deep-rooted commitment to environmental consciousness and sustainability. It asks: At what point will we recognize the consequences of our reliance on plastics, our pollution, and the ongoing damage to our environment—and at what point will we choose to stop? Embracing a philosophy grounded in minimizing harm and reducing impact, Phillips employs a practice of depolluting, repurposing, and utilizing materials sourced exclusively from her immediate surroundings.

Confronted by the abundance of these collected and generated materials, Phillips endeavors to salvage and imbue them with meaning, delving into the transformative potential of reclamation. Her creations, characterized by the fusion of found objects, serve as tangible reminders of change, documenting the flow of time and the cyclical nature of existence.

Phillips’s pick-up portraits—collected from streets and local beaches during her daily walks—reflect the objects we routinely discard, from fabric remnants and plastic bottle caps to food wrappers and cigarette butts. Seen together, they reveal the interconnectedness of everyday ephemera and the traces of life embedded within them. Gathered into transient installations that follow the distinct steps and shifting paths of each walk, these works underscore the beauty and significance of the seemingly mundane, illuminating the cycles we create and the subtle spaces that lie between them.