“I’m gonna live forever,” says plastic.

By: Iris Baguinon, Marketing Assistant.

Early this year, I started my journey on a sustainability and less waste lifestyle. This started in hopes that my future children will get to enjoy a sustainable and less toxic planet. Sounds like a hopeless dream, isn’t it?

The disposable plastic products we use every day are anything but disposable in environmental terms, and can take over 400 years to biodegrade. The booming production of plastics in recent years, fueled by demand for single-use items such as coffee cups and bottled water, means the world has manufactured more plastic in the last decade than in the whole of the previous century.

One of the most durable plastic items is beer holders or also known as six-pack rings, which can take 450 years to biodegrade. And much like plastic straws, six pack rings are often seen as enemies of the ocean. Although six-pack rings account for only a tiny fraction of all the plastic trash in the oceans, images of helpless marine animals like sea turtles with plastic six-pack rings encircling their bodies bring attention to some beer companies trying to create new, innovative ways to hold the cans together without trapping marine animals.

At The Works Art & Design Festival, artist Yong Fei Guan has been exploring plastic debris as contemporary Chinese icons. Given her background and training as a Master Composter Recycler by the City of Edmonton, the concept of re-imagining waste is at the core of her creative practice. If you’re at the Festival, Fei’s massive piggy bank sculpture is hard to miss. With its striking golden colour and bright eyes, you will get drawn in to it.

As you look from afar, you will see just a monstrous pig, but as you look closely, you will discover that the beautiful Chinese icon is made of six-pack rings– the waste that find their way to the oceans and harm the marine life.

Yong Fei Guan’s 金猪 Golden Pig is a commentary on how much plastic waste we accumulate every day. Fei’s work reflects her multicultural identity, politics, and their relationship to environmental issues.

Of all the artworks in the Festival, Fei’s piece is the closest to my heart. It’s the first work I tell my family and friends when asked what they could see at the Festival. I tell them about Fei’s dedication to eliminate plastic waste in Edmonton. And as the conversation continues, I share my own commitment to practice a less-waste lifestyle for the next generations after me.

Eliminating plastic waste altogether may seem like an impossible dream, but starting to eliminate plastic waste in our own footprint is a doable task.

Come see Fei’s Golden Pig at The Works Art & Design Festival. And as you investigate her work, take a pause, and ask yourselves what you can do to reduce your own single-use plastics. When will you take your pledge? 

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About the author: Iris Baguinon is an emerging arts administrator with specializations in Marketing, Social Media Content Marketing, and Guest Relations. She completed her Diploma in Arts and Cultural Management with distinction at MacEwan University in 2018. Prior to joining The Works, she coordinated volunteers, and designed marketing materials for other arts organizations, including Ice on Whyte and Edmonton Heritage Festival. Born and raised in the Philippines, Iris now proudly calls Edmonton her home, where she is involved in the city’s theatre community as a Front-of-house staff at Theatre Network. Iris loves social media, and you can follow her #yegarts adventures on Instagram, @iris.baguinon.