Travis Mitzel

In 2020, now in my early 30’s, I look back in horror at my relationship with goldfish. How could I, someone who claims to love animals and life, be so complacent to a system of forced captivity, forced breeding, mass culling, and the standardization of subpar living conditions? The week before Illinois shut down for COVID, I purchased five fancy goldfish from three different Chicago area pet stores. I intend to take care of and make work with these fish for their entire natural lives (10-15 years). Hopefully, I’ll find meaningful ways to work through my past, deeply problematic relationships to their species as a whole, and help create a New Eco-Mythology surrounding goldfish.

We know the goldfish started as a carp in a bowl in China. The first golden color mutation was recorded in 265 AD. What does it mean to be a goldfish now existing thousands of years later? What will it mean to be a goldfish thousands of years from now?

Goldfish are the most popular “pet” fish in the world.
Plastic is the most produced material on Earth.
Every goldfish that ends up in a pet store is shipped from a breeding facility in a plastic bag.
Every goldfish that goes home from a pet store is placed in a plastic bag.
If you buy a plastic toy goldfish, it is shipped and packaged in a plastic bag.
If you buy a dead goldfish sealed in resin, that too is shipped in a plastic bag.
Can a goldfish exist outside plastic influence?