Book with plastic cover ‘Ireland A Terrible Beauty’
Specimen collected from Fota Island, Cove of Cork, Ireland
Rhizopolenia Robustica
Plividas Chloticus
Barbie doll arm
Specimen collected from Fota Island, Cove of Cork, Ireland
Plamacina Retroversta Ic III
White plastic horse, 3
Specimen collected from Cobh shoreline, Cove of Cork, Ireland
Phoronilasteri Crae
Tricycle wheel
Specimen collected from Whitepoint, Cobh shoreline,
Cove of Cork, Ireland
Ophelia Medustica
Pram wheel
Specimen collected from Glounthaune shoreline, Cove of Cork, Ireland
Nebulae Plaurosbrathic
Plastic flowers partially burnt – group
Specimen collected from Carrigaloe estuary, Cove of Cork, Ireland
Copeopod Langisticus
Six pack plastic yoke
Specimen collected from Roche’s Point, Cove of Cork, Ireland
Aureplia Auristice
Shoe sole
Specimen collected from Blackrock shoreline, Cove of Cork, Ireland
Albatross
This photograph shows 276 pieces of plastic found in the stomach of a 90 day old albatross chick from Midway Island, North Pacific Ocean in 2012.
Statistics show that plastics at sea have no boundaries.
100% of marine turtles, 59% whales, 36% of seals, and 40% of seabirds have eaten marine plastics.
Listen to Barker talk about this photograph here:
We Must Act Now
Plastic Smartie lids stopped being made over 14 years ago, when the packaging was replaced by a completely card version. However, the old plastic Smartie lids have continued to wash up on beaches around the UK and beyond.
The lids were originally embossed with a letter of the alphabet, and some featured faces, motifs, and limited edition colours for special events.
Barker says, ‘In one afternoon I collected almost the whole alphabet (except 5 letters) from Spurn Point, a nature reserve on the east coast of England. Some of the lids in the image are more than 40 years old.’
The artist arranged some of the lids to spell out the message ‘we must act now’, which became the title of the artwork.
Listen to Barker talk about this photograph here:
Image originally commissioned by WeTransfer as part of their WePresent series. Barker was selected to be part of WeTransfer’s Union of Concerned Photographers, an initiative which uses the power of photography to underline
the urgency of environmental concerns.