Plastic Fantastic
Multi-media Moroccan artist Sami Chaouki unpacks human overconsumption and its impact on our environment.
By African Leadership Academy
Curated by: Rayhana Mouaouia
PLASTIC FANTASTIC by Sami ChaoukiAfrican Leadership Academy
Plastic Fantastic is a performance short directed and produced by Sami Chaouki, a Moroccan creative based in Montréal, Canada. Plastic Fantastic unloads the layered relationship humans have with overconsumption. It triggers reflections on the long-term consequences of our actions
PLASTIC FANTASTIC by Sami ChaoukiAfrican Leadership Academy
Sami's background in process engineering allowed him to know more about the consumption industry. The more he learned how deeply we impacted the Earth through the capitalist exploitation of its resources, the more it felt insane that we were not rushing to flip the script.
PLASTIC FANTASTIC by Sami ChaoukiAfrican Leadership Academy
Assistance plasticity: The need to be cushioned by a bubble
Chaouki believes that our relationship to overconsumption is rooted in our need to feel cushioned and protected in the short term. Even when it is at the expense of our well-being in the longer term. His artwork explores the greedy almost pathetic layers of this relationship.
Plastic Fantastic is a metaphor of a pretty safe bubble made up of material that ends up killing us. We are so desperate for comfort, thinking that we need that comfort at the expense of everything else.
PLASTIC FANTASTIC by Sami ChaoukiAfrican Leadership Academy
The endgame of solitude: having our needs met at any cost
The danger of seeking comfort in overconsumption lies behind the consequences of mass pollution on our lives. Plastic waste, which makes up most objects we buy daily, is estimated to reach 11 billion metric tons thrown into the environment by 2025.
Plastic Fantastic is an analogy to the inequalities our societies are experiencing: I am in my plastic bubble, and people outside are dying. It confronts us with our desperate need as human beings for reassurance, safety, and privilege.
PLASTIC FANTASTIC by Sami ChaoukiAfrican Leadership Academy
The mass pollution caused by overconsumption threatens our lands and oceans. It is putting the lives of marginalized groups on the line, as the climate crisis is disproportionally affecting them. You can learn more about its impact on vulnerable groups in exhibit Tick Tack BOOM!
PLASTIC FANTASTIC by Sami ChaoukiAfrican Leadership Academy
PLASTIC FANTASTIC by Sami ChaoukiAfrican Leadership Academy
Plastic Fantastic pushes us to find answers.
What will it take for us to put a global effort into saving our planet, our civilization?
Waste continents? Plastic tsunamis? Complete drought?
Meet Sami Chaouki!
Canada-based Moroccan artist and process engineer Sami loves performance art because of its mixed-media nature and taboo-bending potential. Plastic Fantastic was the first mixed-mediums project he channeled songwriting, composition, film direction, and set decor in.
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Sami shot Plastic Fantastic between Rabat and Québec. His performance short is a clear reflection of his multicultural identity.
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Sami's journey discovering crafts was the result of his travels between Morocco and Canada. The direction and music production is the outcome of Sami's Moroccan, Mauritanian, and Nigerian heritage.
