Yerevan, Armenia
Stencil Design
Typographic Design
I decided to participate in Toprak Petq Chi, a tote bag-giving organization to help stave plastic bag usage, because I believe in the cause and mission (and what it's sponsor, Awesome Foundation, does).
I was inspired to develop this exhibit concept on a trip to the caves of the Eastern Armenian city of Goris. I noticed how people did not have proper waste disposal and resorted to throwing garbage (mostly plastic bags) into the river! This was not the only instance. I’ve seen taxi drivers throw cigarette boxes on the grown, walking commuters tuck plastic bags into tree branches, soldiers throw beer bottles on a hiking trail in nature, and the list continues on to everyday citizens and their awareness at the cash register on how many bags are necessary/needed.
In seeing this, my own personal solution, was to buy in small amounts and use my backpack (which I always carry with me). Yet even this small commendable act was met with looks of embarrassment, shame and sometimes ridicule at the supermarket. To think, a conscious decision to prevent further litter and detriment to our environment was being laughed at in Armenian culture! How sad is that? It was only natural for me to participate Toprak Petq Che's local-action/global-thinking initiative as it was.
We need to awake ourselves and by action and example help others awaken. That is the simple truth. As a global society we’ve achieved almost instantaneous information sharing. Much of this information points to a need understood by many of our ancestral cultures; honoring and respecting nature; taking as much as you need and needing what you want; considering ourselves as connected and inter-connected with the whole of our local, regional and global societies. Yet, with global information sharing, there is also an inherent response in developing hyper-individualized culture of “me” or “I” that has removed the global sense of interconnectedness. I’d like to quote William McDonough from his 1993 lecture on design responsibility and ecological awareness titled, "Design, Ecology, Ethics and the Making of Things”:
"If we understand that design leads to the manifestation of human intention, and if what we make with our hand is to be sacred and honor the earth that gives us life, then the things we make must not only rise from the ground but return to it, soil to soil, water to water, so everything that is received from the earth can be freely given back with out causing harm to any living system. This is ecology. This is good design. It is of this we must now speak."
