monument

 

If necessity is the mother of invention, then modernity is the father of obsolescence. Humans have had plenty of experience being wasteful. History is marked by periods of greed, extravagance and injustice. However, these times were often the impulse of powerful men, whose desires could not be satisfied. In the twentieth century, modernity appeared to be the beginnings of a utopian civilization where there was opportunity for everyone to live well, through the development of science, technology, mass-production and cheap materials, like plastic. Sadly we know all too well that this didnt eventuate for everyone, and many millions around the world still live in abject poverty.

It is ironic that with all the potential of modernity, we westerners, have together, taken on the greed and injustice of so many rulers of the past, that we now consider to have been so un-civilized. The west has exploited the world through colonization, and continues this travesty to this day with corporation-owned sweat-shops and unregulated factories churning out millions of products to fill our shopping malls. Worse still, these products will quickly become obsolete, and all too soon be buried in landfill. What a desecration of valuable resources. If only we could truly be confronted with the enormity of this horror that is our own.

Click here for more images