With images that are both stunning and surreal, award-winning photographer Mandy Barker evokes the unimaginable scale of rubbish adrift in our oceans. Designed to raise awareness and trigger action, this is where activism meets art.
Exotic bursts of colour populate the deep blue like tropical fish. But Mandy Barker’s images are not teeming with marine life. What we’re actually seeing are swirling masses of plastic, suspended in an ecosystem where it doesn’t belong. There it accumulates, year upon year. Nibbled by fish, decomposing into ever smaller particles, and washing up on beaches.
Having grown up collecting shells near her home along the east coast of England, Barker grew increasingly alarmed by the amount of rubbish she was finding along the shore. She decided to document the problem and has spent the last decade creating photo collages of her finds.
Trailer for Trapped in Plastic, a new film highlighting Mandy Barker’s photos. Watch the full nine-minute film for free on WaterBear now.
The serene beauty of her work draws us in before we consciously recognise all of the composite parts: the tiny toys, crisp packets, bits of balloons and bottle caps. The impact of the everyday is powerfully revealed by showing us where it all ends up – adrift in the ocean.
“I feel it is my responsibility as an artist to let people know about plastic pollution, that is what keeps me going,” Barker says in an introduction to her work. “I hope I can engage the world with my images, so people can understand what is going on in places they can’t visit.”
Here, recovered white marine plastic serves as a metaphor for the snowflake, with each man-made object offering a different structure. Collected from the shoreline of the nature reserve at Spurn Point, UK.
Bases of single-use plastic cups. Commission by WeTransfer/Union of Concerned Photographers, which uses the power of photography to underline the urgency of environmental concerns.
Plastic bag seams in forms and shapes reminiscent of sea creatures. This series estimates how long it takes for plastic objects to degrade in the sea. Scientists now believe that unless burned, all of the plastic ever produced is still with us, fragmenting into ever smaller pieces.
Toothbrushes recovered from around the world, including Hawaii, Cuba, Hong Kong, Lanzarote, Croatia, Greece, and the UK. Commission by WeTransfer/Union of Concerned Photographers.
Plastic containers eaten by turtles, sharks, or fish show bite marks. Recovered from Henderson Island, an uninhabited Unesco World Heritage Site in the middle of the South Pacific. Over six tons of plastic was recovered on the island in June 2019.
Plastic bags, some partially burnt, recovered from Henderson Island in the South Pacific. Each image is given a barcode – found on the objects recovered, to emphasise the life cycle of plastic that has travelled from supermarket shelf to coral shelf.
This series aims to create awareness about the issue of marine pollution by focusing attention on the football as a single plastic object and global symbol to reach an international audience. Through social media, members of the public were invited to collect and post footballs they found in the sea or on the shore.
It all adds up: 633 marine debris footballs (and bits of balls) were collected from 23 countries and islands in Europe, from 104 different beaches by 62 members of the public in just four months.
This series aims to create awareness about the issue of marine pollution by focusing attention on the football as a single plastic object and global symbol to reach an international audience. Through social media, members of the public were invited to collect and post footballs they found in the sea or on the shore.
Discarded fishing line has formed nest-like balls due to tidal oceanic movement. It’s just one of the ‘ingredients’ of the ‘plastic soup’ of ocean debris suspended in the sea.
Also known as ‘mermaids’ tears’, nurdle pellets are the industrial raw material used to make plastic. The pellets in this image were collected from six different beaches.
Here, recovered white marine plastic serves as a metaphor for the snowflake, with each man-made object offering a different structure. Collected from the shoreline of the nature reserve at Spurn Point, UK.
Bases of single-use plastic cups. Commission by WeTransfer/Union of Concerned Photographers, which uses the power of photography to underline the urgency of environmental concerns.
Plastic bag seams in forms and shapes reminiscent of sea creatures. This series estimates how long it takes for plastic objects to degrade in the sea. Scientists now believe that unless burned, all of the plastic ever produced is still with us, fragmenting into ever smaller pieces.
Toothbrushes recovered from around the world, including Hawaii, Cuba, Hong Kong, Lanzarote, Croatia, Greece, and the UK. Commission by WeTransfer/Union of Concerned Photographers.
Plastic containers eaten by turtles, sharks, or fish show bite marks. Recovered from Henderson Island, an uninhabited Unesco World Heritage Site in the middle of the South Pacific. Over six tons of plastic was recovered on the island in June 2019.
Plastic bags, some partially burnt, recovered from Henderson Island in the South Pacific. Each image is given a barcode – found on the objects recovered, to emphasise the life cycle of plastic that has travelled from supermarket shelf to coral shelf.
This series aims to create awareness about the issue of marine pollution by focusing attention on the football as a single plastic object and global symbol to reach an international audience. Through social media, members of the public were invited to collect and post footballs they found in the sea or on the shore.
It all adds up: 633 marine debris footballs (and bits of balls) were collected from 23 countries and islands in Europe, from 104 different beaches by 62 members of the public in just four months.
This series aims to create awareness about the issue of marine pollution by focusing attention on the football as a single plastic object and global symbol to reach an international audience. Through social media, members of the public were invited to collect and post footballs they found in the sea or on the shore.
Discarded fishing line has formed nest-like balls due to tidal oceanic movement. It’s just one of the ‘ingredients’ of the ‘plastic soup’ of ocean debris suspended in the sea.
Also known as ‘mermaids’ tears’, nurdle pellets are the industrial raw material used to make plastic. The pellets in this image were collected from six different beaches.
Discover more
- Watch the short film Trapped by Plastic, highlighting Mandy Barker’s work, for free on WaterBear now.
- See the full scope of Mandy Barker’s work here. Her book, Altered Ocean brings together an overview of her images of marine plastic.
