Nature or Plastic?

When I was searching the Internet for a suitable topic for this blog, I came across this photo which fascinated me. At first glance, it looked like the picture was of a coral, but when I took a closer look at the picture and read the caption, I realized that it was of individual fishing gloves that together resemble a coral. The photo made me curious, so I wanted to learn more about the photographer and her works.

Mandy Barker is the photographer of this image she is from the UK and is known for working with marine plastic waste. The goal of Barker’s work is to engage the viewer and trigger an emotional response by combining a contradiction between the initial aesthetic appeal and the subsequent message of awareness. Further, she collaborates with scientists to raise awareness of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans and highlight the harmful effects it has on marine life and ourselves – ultimately prompting the viewer to take action.

Barker has been creating art from plastic waste for more than a decade. She was initially a graphic designer before taking up a degree in photography at De Montfort University in Leicester, UK, in 2008. During her time there, she decided to address the ever-growing problem of plastic waste, which she had noticed increasing along the English coast. “She used to collect driftwood, but over time more and more plastic waste was washing up, she wanted to do something about it and wanted to try out if photography could be a tool.”

Mandy Barker is internationally known and her work has been published in 50 countries Her work has been exhibited worldwide, including at the MoMA Museum of Modern Art, the United Nations Headquarters in New York. She is the recipient of the 2018 National Geographic Society Grant for Research and Exploration and author of her first book, Beyond Drifting: Imperfectly Known Animals, which was selected as one of the top ten photography books of 2019.

Her first series of photographs, called “Indefinite” from 2010, focuses on individual pieces of plastic, unwashed and unaltered, which Barker found on the coast and then brought to her home and photographed against a black velvet background. They resemble the appearance of various sea creatures but are man-made from plastic, the material that is deadly to the animals and organisms themselves. As they gradually decompose, they are often ingested as microplastic particles.

There are 13 other photo series on Mandy Barker’s website. One that particularly caught my eye is her “Penalty” series in which she specifically chooses the subject of soccer in relation to marine pollution. In her project, she involved citizens from all over the world, calling on them via social media to collect soccer balls they find on the coast or in the ocean and post them. In total, 992 marine debris balls were recovered from the world’s oceans in just 4 months. 769 footballs and parts of them and 223 other types of balls were found by 89 citizens from 41 different countries. The trigger for this project was the 2014 World Cup to raise awareness about the issue of polluting our oceans during an international sporting event.

All in all, Mandy Barker’s works fascinated and shocked me. Because on one hand her photos seem beautiful and aesthetic, but on closer inspection, you notice that they are not natural, but plastic which is considered the opposite of aesthetic. It makes me sad to know how many plastic pieces, as Barker depicts them in her photos, swim into the ocean and destroy our nature.

The Art of Destroying the Planet

The creative artist Tan Zi Xi, created a work of art depicting the mass devastation that could be our world in a beautiful project that shows the amount of nondegradable in our oceans. “Plastic Ocean” which is the name of the art piece is now currently on display at the Sassoon Dock art Project in Mumbai. People visiting the display are able to walk through hundreds of pounds of levitating plastic in order to get the full picture of what our world may look like in a few years. From plastic bags and bottles to containers and packaging it’s all there to see in this art installation.

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I do believe that she has a personal bias against plastic and plastic pollution. Tan Zi Xi is also an environmental artist, which means she focuses mainly on showing art that depicts world changes in the environment and creates art to provoke feelings about those issues. She has done many other works to show her disdain for the way people treat the environment as well as also posting many posts on social media sharing her views with her audience and staying true to her brand.
Tan Zi Xi had this to say about her recent display
“Experience the infinity of Plastic Ocean, and be immersed in this man-made tragedy.
The installation reflects an ocean that is highly cluttered with plastic that takes 1,000 years to degrade. Yes, every thoughtless flick of plastic into your dustbin may contribute to the swirling mass of plastic drifting across our oceans. If we humans have already produced more plastic within the past ten years than the whole of the last century, will this plastic ocean be a microcosm of the future state of our waters?”
11 Tan Zi Xi, “Plastic Ocean” - Stage 3 ideas | trash art, plastic art, installation art
The agenda of this is to show people the magnitude of the problem and how we need to act now and be able to visualize the issue at hand in order to change the way society has been handling the pollution problem. Being able to actually see the problem firsthand is a great way to get people to wake up to the current problem. Tan Zi Xi is very aware that people are visual learners and issues that are out of sight are out of mind. Out of sight out of mind, is the motto for most plastic pollution, and the idea that being able to ship off tons of plastic is an unhealthy mindset to have when the problem is not going away. I also think that tan Zi Xi is also a strong supporter due to the fact she is from Asia and a huge amount of the plastic is shipped off to their shores when they already have an issue with the pollution. Being from Asia, it would definitely affect how she views the world as well as how she sees how bad plastic pollution is when Asia is the number 1 contributor and holder of pollution with plastic. Overall this piece of art is a strong message to the problem of plastic and is a good way to bring awareness.