The word herald comes from French and has several meanings. The most common: messenger, or that which announces something that is going to happen.
THIS project is a herald, and the objects and users who participate in it, too.
This project presents a collection of objects from a plausible future, designed for users of the present. It is the result of a reflection that addresses the problem of climate refugees and our relationship with our plastic waste through self-production and introspection.
In the future that has been suggested, humanity suffers the effects of decades of pollution and resource exploitation. The sea level has risen 2m and is increasing. Cities on all continents have been totally or partially covered by water, such as Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, London, Cairo, New York, or Sydney.
The working class is forced to live with floods and rises in their daily lives worldwide, and the lack of resources and excess of plastics have made ingenuity an essential tool to turn plastics into useful objects. Moreover, the weather is harsh, and migratory trips are no longer something that only affects the population of less developed countries.
The kit's goal is not to ensure human survival, if not to bring the humans of the present to a supposed scenario through a physical product, facilitating the development of empathy and understanding how our actions today impact the lives of future generations.
Users are invited through workshops to self-produce objects with some utility and/or transport their belongings and valuables during interaction with the aquatic environment in daily life or on a migratory journey.
When the user deems it appropriate (due to being in a situation of risk, death or any other), detaches him/herself from the object's primary function, leaving it as a beacon and carrier of a message. If found, it can help locate the person and know their history, identity, or last words.
The object becomes an extension of the being, which can be its salvation or prevent its identity and history from falling into oblivion.
Between 2014 and 2018, some 12,000 people were never found who drowned, and globally, an estimated 8,000 people died trying to flee their country. So in a future in which migratory trips are going to become commonplace, nobody wants to be another forgotten one in a statistic.
Whoever is in the position of leaving their home and family in search of something better, carries with them some element loaded with meaning. It is a fact, because people who have experienced it carry photos of relatives, amulets ... When we lack a secure attachment to someone we love, we can give deep meanings or human qualities to our possessions and we believe that with physical contact objects are they impregnate our essence and that we impregnate ourselves with that of others when we touch their things.
The kit wants to bring the humans of the present to a supposed scenario through a physical product and that they can experiment with it in the first person, ceasing to be something that they only see on TV or in fiction.
