This Glasgow-based artist is the founder of the 'Plastic Bag Museum'

British artist Katrina Cobain poses for photographs with some of her collection of plastic bags.
British artist Katrina Cobain poses for photographs with some of her collection of plastic bags. Copyright ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP
By Doloresz Katanich with AFP
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Katrina Cobain is making plastic bags a thing of the past by locking them away in a museum.

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Scottish artist Katrina Cobain thinks the best place for plastic bags to live is in a museum.

Cobain has been collecting the throwaway bags for two years now. From Tesco branded ones to specialised royal editions, all kinds of single-use carrier bags are displayed in her online museum. The oldest ones date back to the 1970s.

The plastic bag museum
Plastic bags from the plastic bag museumThe plastic bag museum

You might think a plastic bag museum sounds boring, but Cobain shows how each and every bag has a story to tell. The collection maps out history for the past 60 years.

"I felt that landfill sites could be the archaeological digs of the future," she says. "For our civilisation, they would be filled with plastic, so I began to collect plastic carrier bags as they can reveal a lot about our social history and also changes in design over time."

The 24-year-old says she wants to encourage people to think of these throwaway items as "belonging in the past" rather than in current everyday life.

The collection is only available online at the moment, but the artist has plans to open a physical exhibition in the future.

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