The unseen waste of Valentine's Day

For the second project of DVB202, we were tasked with telling "The Other Side of the Story" of a celebratory ritual through the medium of an animated AR poster.

My ritual of choice was that of Valentine's Day. Although the intentions of Valentine's Day is sweet with gift giving the way of showing love, appreciation and care, the underside of the celebration is acutely sour. In 2021, Australians alone spent $381 million on gifts for that special someone (Hassan, 2021). These gifts are typically that of stuffed animals, chocolates and sweets and flowers - all of which are highly disposable, creating extensive waste. The primary issue of this waste is that it is predominantly plastic, destined to remain in the environment for tens of thousands of years and inevitably ending up in the ocean. Currently, the ocean has 14 million tons of microplastics occupying it, poisoning sea life and distressing ecosystems (Khare, 2020). The annual celebration of Valentine's only surges this unnecessarily.

 My animation is to highlight plastic longevity and the consequences of its extended existence in the environment, particularly that of the ocean where plastic pollution is most commonly pictured.