Mandy Barker
Image 1: marine plastic debris affected by the chewing & attempted ingestion by animals. Includes; toothpaste tube. Additives; teeth from animals.
Image 2: plastic turtles that have circled & existed in the North Pacific Gyre for 16 years, as a result of twelve shipping containers carrying 28,800 childrens bath toys that washed overboard from the ship 'Evergreen Ever Laurel' on 10 January 1992. Additives; ducks, beavers & frogs.
Image 3: plastic debris that includes surface text. (Ironic random arrangement of 4 pieces of debris suggests a warning, 'Sea', 'AND', 'HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES', 'FOUL'.
SOUP is a description given to plastic debris suspended in the sea, and with particular reference to the mass accumulation that exists in an area of The North Pacific Ocean known as the Garbage Patch. The series of images aim to engage with, and stimulate an emotional response in the viewer by combining a contradiction between initial aesthetic attraction and social awareness. The sequence reveals a narrative concerning oceanic plastics from initial attraction and attempted ingestion, to the ultimate death of sea creatures and representing the disturbing statistics of dispersed plastics having no boundaries. All the plastics photographed have been salvaged from beaches around the world and represent a global collection of debris that has existed for varying amounts of time in the world’s oceans.
Barker is a photographer whose work investigates plastic debris. She collaborates with scientists to raise awareness of plastic pollution in the worlds oceans and highlights the effects it has on marine life. I was drawn to these three photographs from Barkers series 'SOUP' as they all have the same style but they contain different objects. The whole series has a repetition of full compositions to emphasise the amount of plastics that go into the ocean. There is an object in every part of the photograph this represents the fact that the ocean is being suffocated by plastic. When looking at the photos, it's almost overwhelming as it feels almost claustrophobic, this reflects how the nature effected by plastic pollution must feel. The first photograph contains debris that have effected the sea-life by them trying to ingest the objects. It includes toothpaste, bottles and bottle caps that have teeth marks in them by seeing the teeth marks it shows us that many animals are effected by plastic everyday. The second photograph contains plastic ducks beavers and frog, this piece represents an event that happened in 1992, a ship containing 28,800 children toys washed overboard from the ship. From looking at this photo you can see the impact of the plastic children toy that went into the ocean, these toys created a lot of plastic pollution. The third photograph contains plastics that include text warnings such as 'Hazardous Substances'. From seeing all the dangerous objects together, it represents that all these dangerous objects are going in the ocean and harming the sea-life. All these photographs raise awareness of the plastic pollution in the ocean, this should encourage the public to use recycle and use reusable objects to reduce the amount of plastic going into the ocean.
SOUP: Refused,SOUP: Turtle and SOUP: Alphabet
