2023
The Material of Time
Water, sustaining biodiversity and humanity on Earth, is a symbol of goodness in many eastern cultures and religions. According to Dao De Jing, “上善若水，水善利万物而不争”(“Greatest virtue, like water, is to nourish all without demanding any”), the nature of water embodies the power of kindness and humbleness. For billions of years, water continuously circulated on Earth in various forms, witnessing generations of life come and leave like surges of waves.
Plastic, in contrast, is an human invention that caters to the fast-paced production and consumption culture. Due to the slow degradation rate, plastic, too, accompanies many lives from birth to death. Living amid ubiquitous plastic products, seldom do we pause and ponder the “life path” of a piece of plastic - where do they go, the boba tea cups, the phone cases, and the 3D printer parts, in the next hundred years when we no longer exist?
The Material of Time is a short hand-drawn animation that touches upon several topics- not only ocean pollution, but also the significance of plastic and water on culture, religion, and humanity. Embedded in the animation is a time-lapse video clip of melting ice cubes. These colored ice cubes, in the shape of sea creatures such as starfish and coral, have various types of non-recyclable plastic freeze inside (plastic such as LDPE, PP, PS, etc). Placed at room temperature, the plastic pieces become more and more exposed and visible over four hours, while the ice melts and converges into a puddle of water.
The intentional choice of material is to convey the fundamental difference between plastic and other biodegradable things. Due to the low recycling rate and increasing production of disposal plastic products, collection of discarded plastic in water is growing. Unfortunately, many who contribute to the growth of plastic waste do not recognize the urgency of the pollution issue. Therefore, I created this animation which tries to lead the audience into asking “why does it all matter” and searching for possible answers. While the message that “plastic is bad for the environment” is not new, this animation attempts to deliver the message in a more artful and personal way. Hopefully it provides a new perspective for the audience when examining the usage of plastic and its relationship with nature and our culture
Behind the Scene
Click to view the design process