LOS ANGELES.
In the early 1900s, after centuries of wiping variously with stones, sponges, sea-shells, and corn cobs, the West began using toilet paper made of virgin tree pulp, chlorine, and a host of other toxic chemicals. The statistics of this ongoing practice are appalling: 27,000 trees flushed down the world’s toilets each day; 37 gallons of clean water (and over a gallon of bleach, formaldehyde, and other chemicals) per roll. Big T.P. companies have been decimating the environment for decades as they turn old-growth tree pulp into a product that most people use absent-mindedly for a matter of seconds each day.
Any hope for reversing the effects of this convention hinges on altering our relationship to toilet paper and its dispensing mechanisms. “Under / Over” hosts a diverse group of international participants, resulting in an exhibition that merges function and delight, prizing a seemingly humble piece of hardware that we invariably interact with every day and, in so doing, perhaps prompting a subtle shift in this particular paradigm. 
Photos: Marta Gallery.
