More than 150,000 computers are discarded every day in the United States alone. The recycling rate of e-waste doesn't surpass 20 percent, and the mountains are getting bigger and bigger. We all know there's enormous potential in electronic waste, and artist Benjamin Von Wong joined forces with Dell to explore it in a very particular way: using almost two tons of e-waste to create a spectacular futuristic photography session that required ten days of work and the participation of 50 collaborators.
Von Wong got in touch with a representative of Dell's Corporate Social Responsibility team after discovering during SXSW 2017 that the company runs the largest e-waste recycling program in the world. That led him to Wistron GreenTech, one of the main members of that program in the city of Dallas, which enabled an entire depot and approximately two tons of e-waste. A total of 50 volunteers joined to classify and process the components (graphics cards, laptops, motherboards, cables, and a chilling amount of keyboards), working more than ten hours a day.
Time and budget constraints led to the use of forced perspective for building the sets, so that they only "work" when viewed from a specific angle, a detail you can check below. They also used colored folders to modify the lighting, chalks and string for drawing patterns, and even a leaf blower (borrowed from Home Depot) for the "wind effect" on the model's hair, whose body painting session lasted more than eight hours.
If you want to know more, you can visit the official page of Benjamin Von Wong and learn about his other projects. An additional note: Don't forget to enter the blog, where he is organizing a giveaway in which three lucky people will receive a giant copy of the images of their choice (60 by 90 centimeters).
(Editor's note: The model is Clara Cloutier.)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
