‘Everything You Buy Is Rubbish’

Remember that creepy scene in The Graduate, when Ben’s post-college identity haze comes to a climax at his graduation party, and a family friend pulls him aside to deliver that classic line: “I just want to say one word to you. Plastics.” Of course you do, it’s classic.

Today, plastic is indistinguishable and inseparable from our environment *yuck.. [Ever heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? Check out this incredibly eye opening Vice documentary on what it’s actually all about. hint: not just a giant ocean landfill, but much scarier.]

UK artists Charles Duffy, William Gubbins and Billy Turvey, are turning to plastic rubbish as a cultural reminder to reduce, reuse, recycle. In a 50% colorful | 50% freaky art series, they’ve combed the shores of Thames, the English Channel and the Atlantic coastline to create shoes entirely from found plastics — soles, laces and all. The project is a harsh and eerie look into how everything we buy is rubbish, and begs the questions, can we really change?

“ The behavioural changes that are required of us are so fundamental that no one wants to make them. What are they?

We need to consume less.

A lot less.

Less food, less energy, less stuff.

Fewer cars, electric cars, cotton T-shirts, laptops, mobile phone upgrades.

Far fewer.

Yet, every decade, global consumption continues to increase relentlessly.” –Stephen Emmott

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The project cites status and desirability as the foundation of our rubbish obsession.

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