Trash: A Life In Pictures

Trash: A Life In Pictures will illustrate the full life of the inevitable biproduct of our species' addiction with overconsumption.

I am pitching you my product Trash: A Full Life In Pictures.

By 2100, many environmental scientists believe the odds of human survival will be, at best 50-50. There are, of course, many reasons for this. But one that we all can focus on is overconsumption.

We are obsessed with consumption. Like Wayland Smithers on the Simpsons, every time our favorite toy is released with a new hat, we MUST have it. We shop Amazon and Walmart not because the products are good or necessary (spoiler, they are neither), but they have what we want and they have it cheap and quick. We, humans, are bringing about our own climate destruction.

In Trash: A Life In Pictures, I will document this overconsumption from start to finish. From the mining of important resources to the creation of products to their sale and purchase to their inevitable demise in landfills and the ocean, I want to show people what their overconsumption actually does to the world.

My wife and I work so hard to offset our own consumption. We pay for a plastic recycling service, a glass recycling service, compost, and green energy (including our own solar array). These options are all available to people, but few take advantage of these necessary opportunities. Maybe they simply do not know about them. Or maybe they just don't care. Will my project change that? I doubt it. But can it have an impact that moves the needle in my community? Yes.

The photos above are an example of that. They are six of ten photos that comprised my show "What Is and What Could Be" that used photos of our world to show both how the environment currently is and how it can be better at the same time. It hung in July of 2025 and encouraged people to take climate focused pledges including ditching Amazon, composting, buying less and more.

Thank you for considering my work. My bio is below.

Jay Shifman (he, him) believes no one is free until we are all free. When he’s not creating beauty on the page as a poet and writer, he’s photographing it in the world. His award-winning photography features vibrant colors, stark contrasts, and overt messages. You can regularly find Jay documenting protests and the violent response from the police. He lives in South Philly with his primary partner/ wife, Lauren, with whom he runs Flashpoint Gallery and Community Space, and their dogs Nell and Crash.