Art Director
Sense the Nature
United Kingdom, 2022.
Sculpture made of recycled plastic:
Extruded/ cast acrylic, HDPE recycled plastic, concrete, dichroic film.
Sense the Nature is a sculpture that displays the fragility of nature by using recycled/ wasted materials that were produced by humans. The materials used in this project included recycled HDPE plastic, which was collected and reproduced by Chuang, made from hundreds of milk bottles and different colours bottle caps. The project questioning the unstainable sustainability, pointed out the process of recycling can be a cause of other environmental problems.
For recycled HDPE research please click HERE.
Dichroic is a colourless opticals coating that reflects certain wavelengths of light, which was developed by NASA in the 1960s. The light strike through the filter can cast different colours illumination and shadow through light projecting.
The scales of the lizard were made of wasted acrylic pieces applied with dichroic film. All the colourful glows are reflections cast by the scales, with one spotlight from the top. The colours seen depend on the viewing angle of the audiences, and the reflected angle of lights.
The white/ transparent materials shown in the sculpture were wasted extruded/ cast acrylic. To create a different texture, she heated up the extruded acrylic to create a bubbly texture, and blow-moulded the clear acrylic (cast acrylic) to make the branch and the platform.
The coloured material that was used to make the platform is recycled HDPE plastic mentioned above. The blue, purple and the green colour came from hundreds of shredded milk bottle caps that were collected and reproduced by Chuang.
The project aimed to deliver the message of environmental urgency, showcasing the delicacy and the fragility of nature using recycled plastic, which has been considered as one of the biggest pollution to the environment. The labour-intensive process that was required in her project delivered a message of her criticism and reflection against mass production and industrial manufacturing in today’s society.The water plate of the sculpture reflects a moving shadow when any kind of vibration ripples the water – vibrating through air, water and solids from surrounding – echoing how a small step of human beings can cause a huge impact on nature, whether it's a direct contact or not.
However, through the whole recycling process, Chuang figured out that the recycling process itself is not sustainable at all. Even though she consciously put an end to the uses of unnecessary wastes, there was still quite a considerable amount of wastes being generated– from the visible materials such as dichroic films and acrylic pieces, to the invisible consumables used in the project, such as super glues and tapes, both loaded an enormous environmental cost hidden behind. Moreover, once the materials have been reused, barely can it be applied again due to its damaged molecular structure, so the question prompted: Is recycling really the answer?
Recycling process presents a false sense of a solution to the environmental crisis, which makes people overlook the fact that it can be a cause of other environmental problems. This reflection provoked Chuang to look closer into recyclable material for sustainable design, and is now still digging on it. To see her research process and her understanding of the sustainable future, click HERE to link to project page.
