Gazing upon the Wasteland

Gazing upon the Wasteland

For my photoshop assignment, I took the opportunity to express an environmental concern that has been building up globally and primarily in the United States: Waste. Waste and pollution are directly correlated to overconsumption, something quite prevalent throughout the West. Specifically, the consumption of plastic and plastic waste is what truly upsets me. Plastic is toxic (contains BPA), most of it cannot be recycled, and over 80% of all non-recycled plastics end up in developing nations (such as the one used above from India) who suffer the consequences of our first world consumption. This week (today and tomorrow in Coates), SOS is promoting a school-wide "Bag the Plastic" campaign. We are asking students to be aware of their plastic use and try to limit it as much as possible. How to combat this global issue is by starting with the self: Reduce, reuse, recycle, in that order.

I chose to place the landfill photo in a spherical shape, which represents the earth. The idea of a higher power represents the hand holding the earth among the heavenly backdrop (clouds and light). Both the landfill and the clouds photos were not distorted, which I find truly fascinating [See original images below]. I use the image of the child in the gas mask to provoke a feeling of an uncertainty and fear for the future generations that will be dealing with the waste and pollution problems our generation and the one before us have created.

Preliminary Photos Used in this Work: