The Unsolvable Thirst
Jiayu Chang
The Unsolvable Thirst is a dark, satirical still life photography series exploring the fatalistic relationship between human consumption and environmental ruin. The project was sparked by a chilling lyric from a song: "Or is it that as long as there are humans, there is no solution?" To visualise this profound despair, I transformed industrial waste – rusty locks, discarded batteries, and biohazard tape – into a series of high-end ‘Doomsday Cocktails’. By brewing extreme, unnatural food colourings and applying the seductive, high-gloss lighting typical of luxury beverage advertising, I created a deliberate visual trap.
This project critiques how modern society masks ecological collapse with the glittering, high saturation spectacle of consumerism. We are essentially dressing up our own toxic industrial waste as a luxury commodity. Driven by an unsolvable thirst for progress and consumption, humanity is willingly drinking the very poison it created.