Wear Recycle is a conceptual and process based art production that currently tours the United States deliberatly creating interactions and collaborations in order to explore negative behavior patterns. Sculpting with recycled paper is used metaphorically to understand these behavior patterns, how they developed, and how one might change them. Participants WEAR the sculpture in a photoshoot that creates opportunity for future collaboration. Within these collaborations, patterns are publically discussed through the making of posters, writing, performance, installation, etc, in order to discover ways to stop the RECYCLEing of negative behavior patterns. The over all goal of Wear Recycle is to create a movement in which people feel comfortable discussing their own faults within interactions and work towards changing those behaviors; its to give us the choice to be who we want to be rather than to be who we grew up as. Nicky Watts, lead artist, has devoted the last three years to publically exploring her own negative patterns (and there are many many many) and working towards changing them. "I want to have control over how I act and make decisions based off the result I want rather than allowing my unconcious reactions control my experiences and results. Wear Recycle is about gaining control of myself and recognizing I can't change anyone else's reactions. I do this publically in the hopes that others will catch on". the artwork is part of this public display, they're all documentations of an interaction.
There are types of exhibitions currently produced under Wear Recycle, each with their own purpose within the project. They are: Wear Recycle; Torn Apart, the Wear Recycle Poster Show series, Livin, and Mediums Explored. When Wear Recycle; Torn Apart US closes, Watts will take Wear Recycle to Italy, India, the Philippines, and Brazil each for a year to explore how different cultures affect behavior patterns.