The Care Cycle

In the Netherlands, healthcare accounts for 7% of total GHG emmissions. The Care Cycle is a short film that highlights the environmental impact of healthcare. Specifically, the film follows the life cycle of a surgical gown. Through observational imagery and a poetic voiceover, The Care Cycle traces the geographies of materials across manufacturing, use, and disposal, refiguring the hospital as embedded in planetary systems.

Gowns made far away are worn for a moment,
disposed after a single use.
But what is thrown away, does not go away.
It moves, it accumulates, it stays with us.
Leaving harmful residues of plastic and toxic chemicals,
drifting into air and seeping into earth, rivers, and bodies.

Produced in collaboration with the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare at Amsterdam UMC, the project contributes to broader efforts to embed environmental accountability within healthcare and systems design. The Care Cycle premieres as a video installation and screening at Dutch Design Week, October 19-26 2025.

Production and story: Lucy Sabin
Filming and photography: Leidy Karina Gómez Montoya and Eleni Vrettakou
Scientific advisor: Florine de Haes

Showing at: bOre exhibition, United Cowboys, Eindhoven, October 2025
Funded by: The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare and Amsterdam Public Health Institute