news
Rebecca Altman's American Petro-topia
by Rebecca Altman
April 16, 2019
This animation was originally published January 22, 2019 in our Plastics issue.
For all the plastics accumulating in the sea, think, too, on the oft-hidden seas of production wastes that have been made in parallel—the pollutants sent skyward, cast downstream, and as told here, drummed and dumped. When I wrote American Petrotopia five years ago for Aeon Magazine, I had no idea it would resonate as it has, or reverberate in ways that would inspire such a talented team of editors, artists and composers to compress and recast American Petrotopia into such a stark and startling story about the underbelly of plastics’ production. – Rebecca Altman
Written and Narrated by: Rebecca Altman
Designed and Animated by: Sophie Feller
Original Score by: Jacques Brautbar
news
Return to Plastics | A Personal Journey Through Time
by Rebecca Altman
January 22, 2019
Rebecca Altman's essay, American petro-topia, originally published in Aeon in 2015, jumps out at you line one. Her prose stays personal and poignant until its finish – so much so you barely realize the subtle, yet thorough education on petrochemicals, plastics, and American history she is giving you. It begins:
I knew it was late to be calling him. But that night, with the first warm breezes rustling the curtains, I could sense the coming spring and realised he would turn 73 soon.
Rebecca Altman is a writer and sociologist. Her work explores the social history of chemistry, plastics, pollution and environmental legacy— what we pass from one generation to the next. Below, frank animates an excerpt from her essay, "American petro-topia", narrated by Rebecca Altman herself.
Written and Narrated by: Rebecca Altman
Designed and Animated by: Sophie Feller
Original Score by: Jacques Brautbar