Antoine Repessé made a big impact on my life with his photography of the daily waste that regular people create. I was completely unaware of the effect of my consumerism until about three years ago when I met a group of passionate zero-waste individuals in Shanghai. Around the same time I coincidentally discovered Antoine Repessé’s photographs and they inspired me to change my life.
Zero-Waste Movement
The zero-waste movement is a pretty recent movement. Although many people have strived to waste less over the years, it was Bea Johnson who founded the movement in 2011. People who aspire to be zero-waste dedicate their lives to finding ways to live without wasting resources, particularly single-use plastic. While living a zero-waste lifestyle is extremely difficult, we can all be a little less wasteful.
“Bea Johnson and her family are dedicated to living a Zero Waste lifestyle; they generate a mere quart of waste per year. Through her blog and with her book, Zero Waste Home, Bea inspires a growing international community to live simply and take a stance against needless waste.”
Low Carbon City
Who is Antoine Repessé?
Antoine was born in Lille in 1979 and is a self-taught photographer. While working initially in public institutions, in 2012 he started freelancing. He joined the photo agency Lightmotiv where he produced for major press agencies. At the end of 2015, he left the agency to join the collective Views Co.
At first he took on personal projects around photojournalism inspired socio-political issues. He traveled from Lille to Romania, India and Mali. His latest project, “365 Unpacked,” questions a major society issue: the production of waste on a daily basis.
#365 Unpacked
Basically, Antoine Repessé kept all the recyclable trash that he naturally accumulated throughout the year. Then he photographed it in a home to show just how much a regular human wastes! Makes you miss the good old days with glass soda bottles, right?
The Photographs
Summary
Antoine Repessé’s photographs really moved me and helped me step back to look at my daily life choices. I am far from being zero-waste, but I am determined to keep getting better at making better choices for the environment. You can learn more about Antoine Repessé and his photographs on his website, his Facebook page, Instagram and LinkedIn. He is truly a spectacular man with an amazing talent for photography.
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