TO DIE FOR

"With the experimental video essay 'TO DIE FOR', Dylan Sprik ponders upon the obsessive human behaviour that facilitates beauty ideals, and the ruthless power of fashion. Viewers are immersed in the cultural environment of the Victorian era, and are directly confronted with arsenic green, a colour pigment which enjoyed great popularity while having been discovered to be toxic. The video presents a world of prosperity through an arsenic green lens, while giving insight to news articles of the late 19th century which announce scientific discoveries around the toxicity of the popular pigment.

'TO DIE FOR' draws a parallel between the history of the Victorian arsenic green and the recent discovery of microplastics in the human bloodstream. Our use of plastics despite knowing of the dangers to nature might mirror the Victorian obsession with a toxic pigment."