British artist Alex Frost has created a series of Wet Unboxings. These are videos of packaged food and supplements being opened underwater. Here, he mimics the wet environment of a person’s stomach to question the health benefits of these foods and supplements, items that have been treated more as products rather than essential nourishment.
Trailer for Wet Unboxings by Alex Frost. Video courtesy of Alex Frost’s website.
The piece brings an additional layer of meaning in today’s reality of rising sea levels due to climate change. It questions the world’s food security on a planet where land is increasingly subject to more floods and climate disasters. His work becomes a powerful call to action against climate change, advocating for everyone's right to food. This is why Wet Unboxings by Alex Frost is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals of Good Health And Well-Being, Zero Hunger, Climate Action.
Opening Rustlers Underwater by Alex Frost, part of the Wet Unboxings series. Video courtesy of alx_frst/YouTube.
A 2022 United Nations Land Report has found that food systems, which include all the ways humans produce, process, transport and consume food, are the most significant culprits of land degradation. They account for 80 percent of the world’s deforestation, contributing 29 percent of its greenhouse gases. At the Kubuqi International Desert Forum, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres also cautioned that the world is losing 12 million hectares of productive land to climate change annually. A large chunk of this is agricultural land and its loss has caused global falling crop yields, massive food loss, rising tensions over natural resources and forced migrations. It is this global ongoing crisis that Frost brings to his viewers' attention through Wet Unboxings.
Opening Starbucks Nitro Underwater by Alex Frost, part of the Wet Unboxings series. Video courtesy of alx_frst/YouTube.
On the piece’s other meaning, The Guardian has reported that Ultra-Processed Foods (UPF) has been directly linked to 32 harmful health effects, including higher risks of heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, adverse mental health consequences, and even early death. These terrifying effects are not hard to imagine while watching Frost’s Wet Unboxings. Take for example, the way a canned coffee fizzes out and instantly contaminates the water, or the way a particular cereal brand comes out in one giant lump before exploding into a million little pieces.
Opening Flapjack Cereal Pot Underwater by Alex Frost, part of the Wet Unboxings series. Video courtesy of alx_frst/YouTube.
Alex Frost's Wet Unboxings series is a striking commentary on the intersections of nutrition, climate change, and the impermanence of modern life. By immersing packaged foods and supplements underwater, Frost creates a visceral experience that challenges viewers to reconsider the true value and health implications of these highly processed products. The unsettling videos of food disintegrating in water become a metaphor for the fragility of the world’s food systems in the face of rising sea levels and environmental degradation caused by climate change. Through Wet Unboxings, Frost not only critiques the commercialization of food but also calls for a collective re-evaluation of people’s relationship with the planet, highlighting the critical connection between what we consume and the future of our world.
Find out more about Wet Unboxings and other pieces by Alex Frost on his website www.alexfrost.com or his Instagram @alx_frst.