One of the campaign’s images displays model Clara
Cloutier swirling within a vortex of salvaged laptops, her
hair seems to float with static amid the bright, bluish tone of
the image. The scene strikes the viewer with the power of an
electric shock—stunning in its assembly, aesthetic and activism.
If anyone could bring sensational artistry to the topic
of recycling E-waste, it’s Von Wong. To kickstart this
gargantuan project, Dell provided Von Wong and his team
of 50 volunteers with 4,100lbs of E-waste—representative of
the approximate accumulation of E-waste that the average
American generates over a lifetime.
“Honestly, it was really hard to grasp,” Von Wong
reflects on his reaction to receiving the collection of discarded
materials, “With trash pickups happening every week, it’s easy
to get rid of stuff and forget about it.” Seeing only a fraction
of the amount of E-waste that exists on the planet, collected
in one warehouse, only served to fortify the charge behind his
Rethink, Recycle, Revive photographic series.
Faced with bins of electronic recycling, Von Wong and
his team set to work. Within 10 days, the creative collective
assembled various sets that Cloutier modelled within,
including a portal decked in circuit boards, a series of
concentric circles harmonized with laptops that orbit her, and
an electronic pit laden with keyboards.
According to the report, “The Global E-waste
Monitor 2017”, produced by the collaborative efforts of
the United Nations University (UNU), the International
Telecommunication Union, and the International Solid Waste
Association, 2016 saw an enormous 44.7 million metric
tonnes (Mt) of E-waste. This 44.7 Mt mass of refrigerators,
television sets, vacuum cleaners, hair dryers, mobile phones,
computers and the like, translates into 1.23 million 18-wheel
(40-ton) trucks filled to the brim, according to National
Geographic; placed one in front of the other, that’s enough
trucks to form a round-trip line from New York to Bangkok.
Benjamin Von Wong | RethinkAndRecycle.com