Research and Critical Reflection

My topic is exploring the living state of humans in modern times and the relationships between humans and nature, humans and humans with the focus on global sustainability issues. The ecosystem in every corner of our planet Earth is worsening, followed by economic downturn, refugee crises, geopolitical conflicts and the like. Humans are now at an intersection in the course of history, which leaves us no choice but sustainable development.

For example, 36%of seabird species ingested ocean garbage by the year of 1997. That

percentage has risen to 41%by the year of 2015. It's estmated that by 2050,99.8% of species will have ocean garbage in their disgestive organs.

Midway Atoll, in common with all the Hawaiian Islands, recieves a substantial

amount of marine debris from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Apart from current and wind, albatrosses are another 'vehicle' for plastics entering Midway.Albatross parents make tedious journeys to bring food back to their children. Very often a hunting trip covers over 16000 kilometers. Howerver, they are subject to mistaking

floating plastics for food because of their smell. In the end, nutritionless plastics are regurgiated and fed to their children.(source:Plastic-Filled Albatrosses Are Pollution Canaries in New Doc Wired. June 29, 2012. Accessed 6-11-13)

plastic from the belly of seabirds(Trevor Leyenhorst)

From a lot of pictures, I find that plastic bottles take up a large proportion of plastic garbage polluting rivers and oceans. As you can see in the picture above, bottles break down into tiny fragments in nature as they are thin, but the thick caps remain and are eaten by seabirds.

In fact, the seabird crisis contains the worldwide plastic pollution in microcosm.

In fact, the seabird crisis contains the worldwide plastic pollution in microcosm.

For example, 54% of the 120 marine mammal species on the threatened list have been observed entangled in or ingesting plastic.

It is known to all that plastics are difficult to degrade (it takes 450 years to degrade a plastic bottle), so they will just remain in quantity in nature. By 2050, plastics in ocean will overweigh fishes (source: www. Ellenmacarthurfoundation.org).

As these survey results shock me, questions arise as well. Why does the plastic issue appear so severe in the last 5 to 10 years? And why is such a large amount of plastic waste discarded in nature?

In order to find out the answers, I contacted many experts and NGOs at home and abroad, such as Marine Conservation Institute of the US, Shanghai Rendu Ocean NPO Development Center, marine plastic experts and ornithologists.

As my research went deeper, I fully understood the meaning of Chris Jordan’s word, “For me, kneeling over their carcasses is like looking into a macabre mirror. These birds reflect back an appallingly emblematic result of the collective trance of our consumerism and runaway industrial growth.”

The last 40 years have witnessed the increasing demand for plastics, and also the rapid development of plastic industry globally, with its overall output quickly multiplying. The output in 2015 has nearly tripled when compared with that of 1990s, and astonishingly 300 times with that of 1950.

Our daily life has long been glutted with plastics, from small items like toothbrushes, stationery, and clothing, to large construction materials. After the outbreak of COVID-19, the face mask which we wear every day is also made from plastic. A substantial part of them are disposable products, such as plastic bags and beverage bottles. According to statistics, 40 percent of plastic produced is packaging, used just once and then discarded (source: Roland Geye University of California, Santa).

Apart from landfill and burning, a considerable quantity of plastic garbage has entered the ecosystem. By 2015, 6.3 billion tons of plastic wastes have been produced by human beings, among which 9% were recycled, 12% were burned, and 79% wound up in landfill and natural environment.

It is estimated that 80% of the plastics in the garbage area comes from the land (through rivers and sewer systems into the oceans),and the remaining 20% come from ships and marine resources(cruises and fishing boats).

And ships on oceans. A tipical 3000-passenger cruise ship produces more than eight tons of solid waste a week, most of which eventually enter the ocean,

This is a video image made by NASA about the evolution and distribution of global garbage patch.

Plastic waste has invaded seas worldwide along ocean currents. Microplastics are scattered around the world through rain and snow, and even enter the human digestive and circulatory system through seafood.

We refine oil, process the raw material in factories for plastic products, buy and dump these products which then enter and damage the ecosystem, and ironically, through the food chain, the plastic garbage is eaten by ourselves in the end. A perfect cycle though it seems, it is ultimately negative.

No doubt, in the anthropogen age, we are standing and living on a plastic planet.

beach-cleaning with NGO in Shanghai

When I take a look at daily life, plastic seems not to come even close to harm as it always accompanies us as a stable, dependent and intimate friend. Nevertheless, it is fatal since our over-dependence and consumption of plastics has concealed the other side of the coin.

some plastic wastes picked up from the seaside of Shanghai,

Meanwhile, it dawns on me that plastics, low-cost, anti-corrosion, and easy to be shaped and colored, greatly satisfy our daily desire. No other materials in the world can carry so much and infinite desire of human beings.
Such insatiable desire is exactly the root of global ocean plastic pollution today. To fulfill all kinds of demands, plastics are produced in large amounts and discarded without hesitation.
Besides, there is a similar feature between plastic and desire—it is hard to biodegrade plastic while it is almost impossible to dispel all desire.

In the first place, I chose the expression of desire as my work’s theme.
I planned to design a huge “womb” because reproduction was the most primitive desire of human beings. When the viewer entered the installation, he would feel the materialized matrix of desire; after he walked outside, his action gave birth to a new desire.
I adopted common plastic bottles to complete this installation. Plastic bottles were used to feed our daily desire, and they take up a large proportion of discarded plastic waste (according to statistics, 1 million beverage bottles are sold every minute around the world).

Considering the strength and stability of installation, I used the bottom of plastic bottle as the basic material as it was thicker than the bottle body and thus less likely to go out of shape. Referring to honeycomb structurally, I arranged the plastic bottles in the form of hexagon.
After several test, I found rivet was more secure than glue.
As the installation was large, some basic structures were needed to support its internal space. And in order to ensure its transparency, these support structures should be transparent or translucent as well.
At the beginning, I picked the silicone tube which was environmentally-friendly and flexible. As far as I was concerned, when it came to the massive production in the later phase, I would need many volunteers to help me. As they were often short of related experience, cold working was undoubtedly the better way than complicated processing methods like wood cutting or mental welding.
I tried many connection methods between silicone tubes.

However, when the demo was worked out, I suddenly realized that it might not be the thing I wanted, because a single model was insufficient to express the variable and expansive desire.
When the desire continued to expand, it not only squeezed the natural environment but also did harm to human beings. Microplastics in the ocean found their way into human body through the food chain, undermining our health. And worse still, the desire swelled up to oppress the mental health of modern people.
Hence, I hoped to create a special space wrapped and squeezed by expanding desire.

I recycled all kinds of plastic bottles from schools and over 4000 local families, and asked each participant to fill in a file card recording the name and type of their donation, as well as the time and ideas about this item. These file cards also comprised a part of my work.

To better convey the feeling of expansion, I referred to bubbles and marine lives for modeling.Classify plastic bottles according to colors.

The narrow passage whcih I made with workers

For the purpose of creating a squeezed space, I turned it into a long and narrow passage with varied shapes attached to walls and ceilings and mirrors on floors. When the audience passed through, he would feel the press from space and wrapped by “desire”.
As this work, “Desire”, only used the bottoms of plastic bottles, the top part of bottles were employed for my another work, “Regeneration”.
Though desire is the root of problem, but it is impossible to be dispelled. Moreover, it also exerts positive effects.

Therefore, reasonable guide is indispensable for desire.

Just like the plastic waste—after reasonable recycle and reuse, it has sprung to life and embrace new value.

Hence, I decide to focus my next work on the concept “Regeneration of Desire”.
Regeneration can be associated with many words, for example, growth, upward, extension, sprout, bud, and dandelion, the tentacles of octopus (regrow if damaged), coral (the new generation of coral grows on the remains of the previous generations) ,transparent and glowing marine lives

The sketch of Regeneration

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