Portrait of a Place in Trash

As someone who’s always tried to do my part for the environment, I couldn’t help but notice how much trash was regularly littered around Eau Claire. It made me wonder—if every piece were collected and turned into a collage, what would it say about this place? And how would it compare to somewhere like New York or Chicago?

This photo series began as a class project and evolved into a visual commentary. Some collages were physically arranged and photographed as-is, while others were built digitally using individual images of collected pieces. Every item was picked up around Eau Claire, documented, and then properly recycled—part creative exploration, part environmental care.

Here is the full photo series from ‘Found in a College Town,’ a project that explores the city Eau Claire through what was littered around it.