We were thrilled to host hundreds of visitors during the 2023 edition of AmFab Open Studios as part of the Bridgeport Art Trail. A weekend full of great conversations about protecting Long Island Sound which typically begins with questions about my work made from reclaimed ocean plastics and plastics toys that I rescue from becoming part of the landfill, along with the one of kind apparel I design and wear as an advocate and activist for climate health and nature conservation.

We rehomed many toys that would have ended up incinerated or landfilled and engaged kids and their parents on strategies to avoid the problem of “too much stuff.”

(Photo: Mike Lauterborn, Fairfield Hamlet Hub, ©2023)

(Image: From kHyal’s digital work “Toy Ocean: Out to Sea” ©2023)

(Detail of kHyal’s studio installation which combines her “Plastic Horse Rescue” with her ongoing and evolving “Sound of Plastic” project including plastic pollution collection and education and horseshoe crab conservation at Seaside Park in Bridgeport, CT. ©2023)