THE SEWER SOAPERIE
Catherine Sarah Young (Philippines)
Would you wash your hands with soap made from sewage?
Sewer Soaperie turns raw sewage and fat into luxury soaps.
Extreme storms now frequently overwhelm drains, pipes and sewerage systems, causing flooding in major cities. Large lumps of coagulated grease, known as ‘fatbergs’, clog the system and create flooding. These greasy beasts are created when people pour used liquid oil down the sink, which then hardens in the pipes. Gross.
Artist Catherine Sarah Young takes grease from various sources, sterilises it and turns it into soap. As the global climate crisis intensifies, could this be a solution to a more sustainable future?
Catherine Sarah Young 楊 佳 仁 (CN/PHIL) is a Chinese-Filipina artist, designer, writer, and public speaker whose work explores emerging technologies and alternative futures through interactive storytelling, sensory experiences, and participatory art. Her experimental and interdisciplinary practice evokes conversation about our current systems, collective futures, and individual choices. She uses her background in molecular biology, fine art, and interaction design to create works that investigate nature, our role in nature, and the tensions between nature and technology, exploring themes such as climate change and sustainability, science policy and citizen science, feminism and participatory art, among others. She has worked in several countries for more than a decade, giving her unique perspectives into many cultures.