museumuesum

Mandy Barker

Tomato, from the series Soup, 2011

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.