This assignment involved beginning with the Awareness Assignment in which we had to track and document one week of waste generated, paying particular attention to plastics. Each time before placing something in the trash or recycling, we were required to take a photo and add it to our album. After this, we had to make sure to log every single item, both in photographic and written form, specifying the type of material (plastic especially) being disposed. Finally, after a week, the final step was to make a Creative Response based on our use of plastic & production of waste throughout the week.

Awareness Assignment

Precious Plastics Response

Looking back on the awareness assignment log I produced over the last week, I noticed that I had been generating a lot more waste from food packaging than I had initially  thought, especially from fruits that I had eaten during the week. Reflecting on this, I realised that I had had a subconscious belief that since I wasn’t consuming a lot of processed food (like frozen meals, chips, takeout etc.) very often, and instead purchasing fruits and vegetables and making meals at home, that my diet generated less waste. Consequently, seeing a visual representation of how much plastic waste comes from the fruits and vegetables that I have been eating was quite a revelation as I was confronted with the reality that this isn’t true.

When thinking about how I could respond to the newfound understanding that I had developed, I was reminded of a number of artworks in which I had made use of fruit packaging elements. I always used these materials to create colourful and intricate patterns and textures, but afterward the plastic I had used always ended up in the trash. This reminded me of the parallel with the fruit packaging waste that I had generated in the past week as I was more engrossed with the embellished idea of a healthy lifestyle than being fully conscious of the true waste that I was generating in the process. Consequently, I decided to recreate a work using the packaging that I was going to dispose of and turn it into posters that underscore the idea that when we consume things in plastic packaging we are often not as aware of the real cost of our choices as we should be.

Work from:
Sustainable Systems with Professor Jan Mun