As inhabitants of the planet, what we consume as well as discard or throw away together form a vivid narrative of human health as well as the health of this earth. To highlight this massive consumption and subsequent waste production, photographer Gregg Segal, in 2014, started off with a unique project titled ‘7 Days of Garbage’. It involved asking neighbors, friends, family members as well as other acquaintances to save a week’s garbage and then lay down amidst that garbage while being photographed.
Even in the initial phase of the project, Greg was able to raise a substantial amount of awareness, with families, starting to make alterations, however small it might be, in their consumption style. In fact, people are creating more compost and purchasing products that have high durability, instead of those that are cheap and disposable. Moreover, many are going for selection of products that involve less amount of packaging, and are also repurposing plastic containers instead of throwing them away. Stainless steel or glass water bottles
are being increasingly purchased.The project was able to reach over a million people and has also been picked up by Le Monde, Vanity Fair Italy, The Independent, Newsweek Japan, and more. While working on this project, Greg was inspired to take a closer look at food, that is, the food people on earth are consuming and the portion that is being thrown away. What struck Greg is that- in spite of the increasing awareness about the damages that consumption of processed foods can cause, are the diets really changing substantially?
‘Daily Bread’, the follow-up project, aims to address this concern. Parents and kids are asked to keep a record of the food they are consuming in seven days. After the completion of 7 days, Greg photographs the child with the food, in order to collect the spectrum of diets consumed.
‘Daily Bread’, the follow-up project, aims to address this concern. Parents and kids are asked to keep a record of the food they are consuming in seven days. After the completion of 7 days, Greg photographs the child with the food, in order to collect the spectrum of diets consumed.
Greg aims to further organize a traveling exhibition and produces a book revolving around this theme. He wants to bring change by making people more responsible and this is just the beginning.