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THE VANCOUVER COURIER T H U R SDAY, M AY 3 1 , 2 0 1 8
Douglas CouplandÕs ÒVortexÓ exhibit on display at the Vancouver Aquarium includes this raft adrift in a sea of plastic.
children, looking as though they may be straight out of a Wii video game, occupy the bow and stern to round out the quartet.
PHOTO: ALEX KURIAL
“Vortex” breaks down planetary effects of plastic waste ALEXANDER KURIAL
New Douglas Coupland exhibit looks at devastating effects of plastics on the environment Society’s attitude towards plastics is having a devastating impact on both the environment — and humanity itself. That’s the blunt message behind Douglas Coupland’s new exhibit “Vortex” on
display at the Vancouver Aquarium. Coupland uses a series of stark imagery to show how our treatment of plastic waste has had massive consequences for this planet and challenges us to do better to help negate and reverse similar damage in the future.
“I want to stay in my home.”
“There’s this adage growing up, ‘Just throw it away.’ Well what do you mean by ‘away’?” asks Coupland. “The thing about away is that everywhere is away now. And you can’t just chuck that there or use that there without affecting all these people and all of these systems.” The centrepiece of the exhibit features a small raft adrift in a miniature sea of discarded plastic items. Water, a dense
“I’m worried about mom falling in her home.”
fog that wafts over the viewers, and ocean sounds all transport the audience to this forsaken stretch of ocean. Aboard the raft sits an eclectic mix of characters. Andy Warhol leans out at the viewer, camera in hand to document the mess — and our reaction to it. A displaced migrant woman from an African country sits with a thousand-yard stare. Two
For all they have given us, plastics have had a highly detrimental effect on the environment in their 111 years of existence. Hundreds of millions of tonnes of plastic waste currently sits in the world’s oceans. The manufacturing of plastic requires large amounts of oil and releases carbon emissions into the atmosphere. Coupland says this aspect of plastic’s impact on our society needs to be more widely understood. He hopes the inclusion of the migrant woman will help accomplish this goal and highlight the intersectionality of environmental and human issues. “Perhaps she’s from Nigeria, where Shell sucks the oil out, destroys the environment and causes migration and environmental degradation,” says Coupland.
Coupland’s intention is not to leave the viewer depressed about our current situation, but rather inspired that we can affect change. Hence the inclusion of the aptly named “Plastic Boy and Plastic Girl” — the two children on the boat. They, according to Coupland, represent the hope that the younger generation will take stock of such a wide reaching problem and take steps to curb the damaging effects of plastic in the future. The other main staple of the exhibit is a wall containing thousands of individual plastic items collected from the waters around Haida Gwaii. They represent the 12 discarded plastic items most commonly found off the coast of B.C. Coupland believes localizing the problem will cause viewers to reflect and take action on how they use and dispose of plastics. For the full version of this story visit vancourier.com.
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