My research efforts for my presentation have been quite difficult. I have settled on a hyperobject that will be the focus of both my presentation/pitch as well as the media artefact itself, but I am struggling to uncover what exactly it is that I want to say. The hyperobject that I have chosen is e-waste, I chose it because it is a hyperobject that has a great impact on the advancement of climate change but it also has a large impact on the people who rely on this hyperobject as a source of income and means of living. The large majority of e-waste in major countries ends up being illegally exported to developing countries such as Ghana. The populations in e-waste sites like Agbogbloshie in Ghana rely on this trade as a source of income. However the effects of harvesting and burning e-waste are incredibly damaging to the atmosphere as well as the people who work on these sites. Many old electronics contain valuable resources like copper, gold, platinum among others, yet when burned they release toxic levels of cadmium, lead and dioxins that are all extremely carcinogenic when inhaled, as well as toxic when absorbed by soil on these sites. This trade is seeing otherwise healthy workers die in their 20’s due to cancer and other harmful health conditions.
I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to work on my presentation yet I haven’t gotten very far. I have however made a fair amount of progress collecting materials to use for my project. Thus far I’ve collected various pieces of footage of e-waste sites as well as the electronic trade and people in the surrounding areas.
My hope with my artefact is that it can provide some insight into e-waste as a hyperobject, but also to provide some commentary on this issue as another way in which less fortunate people suffer from the consumerism of western countries. In my presentation as well as the piece itself, I would like consumerism to be a bold underlying tone that allows the viewer to reflect on their electronic consumption and the ways in which they discard their devices.
In my presentation I want to discuss my intention to make use of a soundscape, drawing inspiration from scenes from HBO’s Chernobyl in which there is a radiation measurement device ticking and indicating danger. I am drawing inspiration from this as the toxic chemicals at e-waste sites are also incredibly harmful and dangerous towards humans. I also want to emphasise my focus on the e-waste and its negative effects through footage, I specifically want to make use of lots of close up footage showing the burning and smoking of the waste, as well as the toxic fumes as well.
Presentation Link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DbfOJgqo2JqXFIOzR4sPHC2jwDjdsAEgWs3qXCkKJR0/edit?usp=sharing