The term waste colonialism emerged because of the inability of rich countries to manage and recycle their own waste, and then send most of their waste to third world countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc. illegally. The costs that must be paid in the process of processing and sorting waste are not cheap so that a lot of plastic waste, electronic waste and textile waste are done manually by human labor. This manual process has a direct impact on the health of workers and environmental pollution around them. In my opinion, the concept of colonialism in the modern era is not only one country colonizing another country, but it also occurs on a smaller scale, such as in the scope of cities that always build landfills and dump the waste they produce in the suburbs, or in rural areas far from our eyes as city people.
Then how do we see the waste problem in the Yogyakarta area today? How do you feel when the waste in your house is not collected for a week, because the Piyungan landfill is closed because it is no longer able to accommodate the waste we produce? Starting early 2023, the DIY provincial government has reopened a new landfill directly adjacent to the old landfill that has turned into a garbage hill that was then disguised with soil and grass. Yes, that is our garbage that lives in the city, sorting garbage that should have been done by us is then replaced by scavengers. The leftover food that we produce then becomes a livelihood for cows and egrets at the Piyungan TPAS. But is that enough? Of course not, our garbage is still piling up and waiting to become the second garbage hill.
Based on my observations, many of the artists who discuss the issue of garbage choose artistic methods by using recycled materials in their works. The use of recycled materials is considered more environmentally friendly and also has a spirit of education for the wider community. I appreciate the process and efforts of the artists who use this artistic method, but the concept of recycling also has two opposing sides. The process of recycling plastic waste has a much more expensive production cost than producing new plastic products or packaging, so many companies or individuals choose to produce goods without recycled materials. The concept of recycling and donation is also used by capitalists to sell and encourage us to be more consumptive. Therefore, in this work I do not use recycled materials in discussing our waste problems today. In this work I am not trying to corner certain parties or who should be responsible, my hope is how we can together reflect and take part in thinking about solutions to the waste problems that we have produced so far for a better future.
Photograph, Still Video, Drawing, 2023
