Just outside San Diego, California, in the city of Chula Vista, Henry the Fish looks out across the Sweetwater Marsh National Wildlife Refuge toward the Pacific Ocean. From a distance, his vibrant red and yellow stripes are beautiful. Once you get closer, you see he's not much more than a heap of well-organized trash. Henry is just one of the sculptures you'll find at the "Washed Ashore: Plastics, Sea Life, & Art" exhibit created by artist Angela Haseltine Pozzi. Here, we'll take a look at what she's doing to create compelling artwork using trash retrieved from the Pacific, all in an effort to help people understand how consumption is causing our planet and the life on it to suffer.
Washed Ashore
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), it can take as long as twenty years for a plastic grocery bag to disintegrate. Plastic bottles can survive for 450 years, and plastic fishing line can pose a hazard for as long as 600 years. With this in mind, Angela Haseltine Pozzi used more than 7,000 pounds of plastic marine debris to create a dozen sculptures. The trash, collected by a group of 500 volunteers, came from a sixty mile stretch of the Oregon coastline, between North Bend and Port Orford.
Plastic netting and rope, old flip-flops, buoys and balls, sand toys, and plastic water bottles like those found on all the world's beaches are sometimes cut and shredded, and sometimes left as is to be incorporated into the artwork. Dish soap bottles, plastic toys, and even old shotgun shells find their way into the mix, coming together to create sculptures like Henry the Fish, Tula the Sea Turtle, and Lydia the Seal, whose neck is encircled with plastic netting.
These sculptures are meant to show people how everyday refuse can create deadly problems for marine life. Not only can you see them, you can touch them and walk through them. There's a giant sea jelly made mostly of water bottles and plastic bags, and a twelve-foot high "whale ribcage" made from a recycled steel frame that has been covered with large white plastic items, including jugs and bottles. Throughout the exhibit, people get the chance to learn some facts about the trash used to make the exhibits. One sign reads: "Water bottles from the 2008 Beijing Olympics were found three years later on Oregon beaches." Another informs visitors of the importance of reducing, reusing, and recycling, stating: "Only 1 of every 6 plastic bottles is recycled in the United States."
When you read about the problems the planet faces, or see a documentary or news program describing important environmental challenges, you start to see everyday objects in a whole new light, but when you get the chance to see art installations like these, which put masses of marine debris on display, the impact is much greater. Pozzi and other environmental artists are making a difference by giving people the opportunity to see and touch items that have made their way into the oceans.