Event Blog 2: Climate Change + Art

 Watching Jess Irish's short film This Mortal Plastik and hearing her talk about conceptualizing and making the film was an eye-opening experience that introduced me to facts about plastic that put several contemporary discussions in very novel perspective. The film's narration taking the form of a sort of poem was a decision that glued me to the commentary and the beautiful animated visuals. It was mind-boggling to learn that plastic was initially advertised as a way to save fauna such as elephants by offering a substitute to materials like ivory (Irish). Plastic is now considered a major killer of marine life and other animals which end up eating plastic and harming their interior organs (Krosofsky) - this change makes one wonder what current scientific tools could actually end up being harmful to life rather than remain the boons they are considered to be. 

"How Plastic Waste is Killing the Oceans" by Newsweek

The film seemed to present the viewers with a series of paradoxes such as plastic being both an ender of life and a facilitator of one. An argument can be made for plastic being a significant material for medical equipment that would otherwise be more expensive to make and consequently sell. According to Medical Product Outsourcing, plastic also helps in medicine by being a more sterile option than alternatives (Naik). Thus, in a utilitarian sense, it would be interesting to see whether plastic has saved more lives than it has cost. 

Plastic is used in almost all dispensable medical equipment
Craftech Industries. Use of Plastic in Medicine.



Illuminating issues like climate change via visual media is a an effective trend that has risen over time. Netflix's Seaspiracy was a hit documentary that focused on humans' effect on marine life and how it is high time we act on the world-endangering acts committed by us at sea (Tabrizi). Irish's comments on the use of poetry in the film also raise the question of what mediums are the most useful in disseminating information about climate change - some suggest that contemporary art helps convince people more efficaciously as they now attach their emotions towards the art to the issue of climate change itself (Smith). The sadness you feel when you see a painting of polar bears on melting ice caps could be more visceral than what you experience reading data on rising temperatures.

Bedogne, Mina. UC Davis.


Proof of Attendance


Irish, Jessica, director. The Mortal Plastik. 2021.

Krosofsky, Andrew. “Plastic Pollution Kills Millions of Animals Every Year.” Green Matters, Green Matters, 7 Jan. 2021, https://www.greenmatters.com/p/how-many-animals-are-killed-by-plastic-pollution.

Naik, Mohan. “5 Ways Plastics Revolutionized the Healthcare Industry.” Medical Product Outsourcing, https://www.mpo-mag.com/contents/view_online-exclusives/2017-10-09/5-ways-plastics-revolutionized-the-healthcare-industry/.

Tabrizi, Ali, director. Seaspiracy. 2021.

Smith, William S. “Climate Change Has Already Transformed Everything about Contemporary Art.” ARTnews.com, ARTnews.com, 4 May 2020, https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/climate-change-contemporary-art-1202685626/.

“How Plastic Waste Is Killing The Oceans.” Newsweek, 2018.














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