"Green Gate" – Artist Statement
“Green Gate” is a photographic exploration of labor, waste, and the unseen consequences of modern consumerism. This series documents individuals working in informal recycling environments—sorting through discarded materials, including hazardous medical waste, without protective gear or institutional support. In these spaces, plastic is melted using improvised methods, releasing toxic fumes, only to be repurposed into everyday products like shoes or household tools—clean and anonymous as they reenter our lives.
This work aims to expose the stark disconnect between our polished lifestyles and the hidden, often dangerous labor that makes them possible. In a system that externalizes the cost of convenience, those with the fewest protections endure the greatest risks—breathing chemical-laden air, handling toxic waste, and working in extreme conditions—all in the name of “sustainability.”
The title Green Gate is both literal and metaphorical. A green metal gate appears behind each subject—not as a physical barrier, but as a symbolic threshold between visibility and invisibility, neglect and recognition, exploitation and dignity. Traditionally associated with life and renewal, green here becomes a portal, inviting us to rethink our ideas of sustainability, labor, and responsibility.
These images are not about pity. They are a call for awareness. They ask us to confront the realities behind the products we consume and consider the lives entangled in their production. The gate becomes an invitation—to see more clearly, to question more deeply, and to act more humanely.
Green Gate asks: What’s behind the things we use every day? Who pays the price for our convenience? And how can we build a future where no one must breathe poison to make plastic reusable?
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Collaborating Artist
Sangmooh Han
