we were going to maybe the most
beautiful place in the world and instead
of being convened by the beauty or by
the wildlife were convened by the
garbage and that seems like a tragedy a
generation ago this problem didn’t exist
and it has never existed before in the
history of the planet yeah nothing we
got we got the laundry here the Clorox
and the laundry detergent they’re
animals that eat enough plastic to kill
them and this is really true of a lot of
the sea birds into some of the other
creatures and plastic affecting wildlife
is a global problem every piece that I
pick up and remove is one less piece
that’s going to be inside of an
albatross it’s one less piece is gonna
tangle a seal
I think everybody involved in this
project is doing it because we love
animals we love nature we love the the
natural world and for me that is the
highest motivation I could have
this whole project is a huge excitement
as a child I grew up watching Jacques
Cousteau films I wanted to be a marine
biologist I ended up being an artist but
to physically end up on a ship doing an
expedition it’s like a dream but now is
becoming a reality the whole project is
unusual but we’re also in not only
unusual times we’re in unprecedented
times you know science tells us how the
world really is and how things really
work and the one thing that you don’t
have the time and space for in science
is to express how that feels to you
what’s interesting is this combination
of the scientific mind and I with the
artists we’re looking at the same thing
and perhaps from different ways but I
think that synergy is what’s the driving
engine behind this project
well I’m pegged with the the title
project leader I feel now I’m just a
facilitator helping create the stage for
these voices to come together on to me
there’s a deeply offensive concept
behind plastic trash cluttering the
landscape where the hell did all this
come from
we’re making millions of pieces of
plastic everyday and we’re throwing a
lot of it away and that winds up washing
into rivers and getting into the ocean
and taking this journey it gets caught
in these gigantic circulating ocean
currents called gyres and flung back up
on the beaches and a lot of that is what
we see so this is the Alaska Peninsula
these are all areas of those deposits so
you have this big blast of coastal
current swinging up along the coast it
is it all plows into this Ridge you have
all this up low that’s why you know we
thought having this experience we have
this really rugged landscape pristine
wilderness animals whales wildlife
didn’t see all this crap on the beaches
I have a big curiosity as to what is out
there what kind of debris comes here
what does it look like how does it get
here how long has it traveled I’ve never
been able to predict what I might find
there’s just a breed literally
everywhere
this is a from 2007 we took 40 tons of
plastic off these three beaches right
here were 25 tonnes right on this beach
how across just like all those little
cigarette lighters we found around here
albatross I’ve seen them eating even
those big driftnet floats that are like
six inches long yeah it’s just
unbelievable
with thousands of chemicals in plastic
that was heavily contaminated these fish
what else is in those fish that we
aren’t even looking at it’s pretty scary
to me when I land I’m looking to gather
the information that’s already laid out
in front of me I feel like Nature has
played a hand in shifting this material
debris that we’ve created and it’s
putting it in a place for us to look at
you know almost like a forensic
scientist I don’t want to disturb the
the material until I’ve had a chance to
look at it and read it and then I clean
it I take it away I take out as much
materials I can physically handle
there’s a telltale signs of our sort of
waste everywhere you can’t you know Goff
you’re going to fall over it really
and I started photographing plastic
always Lucas in some way if you can
create your message by nudging people
through visual arts and culture that all
sinking a little bit deeper perhaps and
change people’s behavior my whole thing
in the moment is got an interesting kind
of like UFO stuff so I’m going to try
and make it look like I’ve just been
kind of almost deposited from from space
there is something about that patina
something has been an out in the
wilderness their words colors have been
softened its texture has been changed so
yeah they have some degree of
attractiveness even though we find them
impossible appalling as objects yeah and
look at the colors I’m I mean just
stunning right a lot of my work concerns
the history Sciences the material
qualities of things I think this was
coffee mug well you know I think part of
this expedition for for the artist is is
really trying to figure out what pushes
the visual language beyond how you might
talk about this stuff in a way the
beaches become our studio
it’s incredible is to make like the
ocean made this sculpture because what
it exhibit is its intent to just tangle
the stuff up and vomit it out onto the
beach
I was really shocked to see how much
garbage there is here and that in the
course of all of its journeys it sweeps
through the living areas of millions of
animals that share this life with us
they don’t deserve that and it hurts
them
Wow first step away look at goosebumps
what will these beaches look like two or
three hundred years from now at the rate
at which this stuff is just accumulating
every moment of every day I think we
could literally bury ourselves in this
stuff I’m kind of envisioning making a
really black large form that’s going to
be sort of spewing out all this colored
material I found this by itself and I
couldn’t tell why the shape was so odd
and irregular until I found the whole
one so what we’re seeing is someone’s
marketing idea for making a life’s water
in the shape of a football helmet and we
have now found all the major sports
teams this object is really strange to
me
it’s a magical safety sneaker insole
it’s like a cross and it even has a sort
of radiating form coming out of the
center so to me this would be a highly
symbolic image I would make a portrait
of what we’re looking at really I think
is the cultural archaeology of our time
right now you know these are the ghosts
of our consumption I think they’re
haunting the natural world in a
terrifying way
big
yeah it’s an incredibly remote area
where exactly are you on this no right
here Marshall Kodiak say 80 miles by air
the nearest neighbor is 25 miles these
are the real soil beaches when should
you get out here this is really dirty in
one day with my skiff I picked up six
hundred pounds of net off this these
beaches Coleen and Jerry live here in
their home and I’m sure their idea was
to live away from most of humanity in
the most beautiful setting they could
imagine I’m sure it wasn’t part of the
deal in their mind to live with all of
our garbage so that’s my weighing
station where I that’s right there is
where I separate the debris water
bottles single-use plastic it’s very
meta
I’m impressed how news you know some of
the neatest trash I’ve ever seen here
this isn’t a great one if I can pull
this out this is you can probably come
up and look at it but almost every piece
of plastic debris you find that will fit
in a bearish mouth has those kind of
tooth marks on it the Bears are
fascinated with plastic and they eat it
so what is your most weird bizarre
object can you think of it I think that
the thing I found that really surprised
me the most was a plastic mannequin head
as far as just out of place uncanny you
know yeah yeah I think she’s doing
something extraordinary I mean she this
is sheer labor and done for love and
she’s she’s doing the work of 100 people
it’s amazing I felt like it was
impossible to conquer last year but now
I’m thinking I’m amazed at what I’ve
seen happen in the last year with the
awareness and the motivation we’re
looking at buoys right now but in those
bags is every kind of household thing
it’s a real chance for us to take a look
at our lives as a species and say what
are we doing here to see this bottle
that was laying on this beautiful beach
now
of those to use a year and what can you
do and remember when used to find
seashells
how’s this actually being in a place
like this and here’s someone talked
about the packaging of our lives yes
it’s not for the faint-hearted
all right
I think there’s never been a society
that has produced more material culture
and taken less responsibility for these
things don’t bother me in everyday life
and they bother me on everyday life on
the beaches of the world so in my
composition
I want the trash to stay as trash you
know I want this to be an emblem of the
material culture of a specific people
and a specific time
we’ll nose up into the bay for world
position the Norseman so we have a
different kind of chore here a lot of
the beaches we’ve been longer than all
of you know 100 yards 50 yards a quarter
mile this Beach is 10 kilometers
we are the second crew to come off the
Norseman having to land a little bit
further up the coast off the Jew bodice
and essentially what we’re doing is
ferrying several thousand pounds of
debris off this beautiful coastline
the size of this bad part there if I put
my hand in it goes from there to there
so that must be what that’s over a foot
in it
geez I see one big big mother
we’re seeing a large round there and
it’s very very impressive and really
magnificent and it’s very big these are
the biggest brown bears in the world in
this region and that’s one of them I
don’t have the words those little Cubs
were amazing the way they clustered
around her and it just is you know I
think a once-in-a-lifetime image to see
her that close and just see the hair
over her back just blowing in the wind
and the baby jumping on top and just a
whole unfolding of a moment
I peppers why we’re here thank you the
action of cleaning a beach changes you
it puts you in the position of care and
understanding something about our
connection to the natural world I will
take back mainly the vitality of the
animals that we’ve seen and the sheer
physical beauty of the place which is
just a complete knockout people want to
see the original world they don’t want
to arrive and see the garbage of
millions of people that has beat them to
the place what’s important about this
trip is reconnecting with wild places
for me putting people in nature Foster’s
love and you know and love motivates a
change of behavior
you
you
beautiful place in the world and instead
of being convened by the beauty or by
the wildlife were convened by the
garbage and that seems like a tragedy a
generation ago this problem didn’t exist
and it has never existed before in the
history of the planet yeah nothing we
got we got the laundry here the Clorox
and the laundry detergent they’re
animals that eat enough plastic to kill
them and this is really true of a lot of
the sea birds into some of the other
creatures and plastic affecting wildlife
is a global problem every piece that I
pick up and remove is one less piece
that’s going to be inside of an
albatross it’s one less piece is gonna
tangle a seal
I think everybody involved in this
project is doing it because we love
animals we love nature we love the the
natural world and for me that is the
highest motivation I could have
this whole project is a huge excitement
as a child I grew up watching Jacques
Cousteau films I wanted to be a marine
biologist I ended up being an artist but
to physically end up on a ship doing an
expedition it’s like a dream but now is
becoming a reality the whole project is
unusual but we’re also in not only
unusual times we’re in unprecedented
times you know science tells us how the
world really is and how things really
work and the one thing that you don’t
have the time and space for in science
is to express how that feels to you
what’s interesting is this combination
of the scientific mind and I with the
artists we’re looking at the same thing
and perhaps from different ways but I
think that synergy is what’s the driving
engine behind this project
well I’m pegged with the the title
project leader I feel now I’m just a
facilitator helping create the stage for
these voices to come together on to me
there’s a deeply offensive concept
behind plastic trash cluttering the
landscape where the hell did all this
come from
we’re making millions of pieces of
plastic everyday and we’re throwing a
lot of it away and that winds up washing
into rivers and getting into the ocean
and taking this journey it gets caught
in these gigantic circulating ocean
currents called gyres and flung back up
on the beaches and a lot of that is what
we see so this is the Alaska Peninsula
these are all areas of those deposits so
you have this big blast of coastal
current swinging up along the coast it
is it all plows into this Ridge you have
all this up low that’s why you know we
thought having this experience we have
this really rugged landscape pristine
wilderness animals whales wildlife
didn’t see all this crap on the beaches
I have a big curiosity as to what is out
there what kind of debris comes here
what does it look like how does it get
here how long has it traveled I’ve never
been able to predict what I might find
there’s just a breed literally
everywhere
this is a from 2007 we took 40 tons of
plastic off these three beaches right
here were 25 tonnes right on this beach
how across just like all those little
cigarette lighters we found around here
albatross I’ve seen them eating even
those big driftnet floats that are like
six inches long yeah it’s just
unbelievable
with thousands of chemicals in plastic
that was heavily contaminated these fish
what else is in those fish that we
aren’t even looking at it’s pretty scary
to me when I land I’m looking to gather
the information that’s already laid out
in front of me I feel like Nature has
played a hand in shifting this material
debris that we’ve created and it’s
putting it in a place for us to look at
you know almost like a forensic
scientist I don’t want to disturb the
the material until I’ve had a chance to
look at it and read it and then I clean
it I take it away I take out as much
materials I can physically handle
there’s a telltale signs of our sort of
waste everywhere you can’t you know Goff
you’re going to fall over it really
and I started photographing plastic
always Lucas in some way if you can
create your message by nudging people
through visual arts and culture that all
sinking a little bit deeper perhaps and
change people’s behavior my whole thing
in the moment is got an interesting kind
of like UFO stuff so I’m going to try
and make it look like I’ve just been
kind of almost deposited from from space
there is something about that patina
something has been an out in the
wilderness their words colors have been
softened its texture has been changed so
yeah they have some degree of
attractiveness even though we find them
impossible appalling as objects yeah and
look at the colors I’m I mean just
stunning right a lot of my work concerns
the history Sciences the material
qualities of things I think this was
coffee mug well you know I think part of
this expedition for for the artist is is
really trying to figure out what pushes
the visual language beyond how you might
talk about this stuff in a way the
beaches become our studio
it’s incredible is to make like the
ocean made this sculpture because what
it exhibit is its intent to just tangle
the stuff up and vomit it out onto the
beach
I was really shocked to see how much
garbage there is here and that in the
course of all of its journeys it sweeps
through the living areas of millions of
animals that share this life with us
they don’t deserve that and it hurts
them
Wow first step away look at goosebumps
what will these beaches look like two or
three hundred years from now at the rate
at which this stuff is just accumulating
every moment of every day I think we
could literally bury ourselves in this
stuff I’m kind of envisioning making a
really black large form that’s going to
be sort of spewing out all this colored
material I found this by itself and I
couldn’t tell why the shape was so odd
and irregular until I found the whole
one so what we’re seeing is someone’s
marketing idea for making a life’s water
in the shape of a football helmet and we
have now found all the major sports
teams this object is really strange to
me
it’s a magical safety sneaker insole
it’s like a cross and it even has a sort
of radiating form coming out of the
center so to me this would be a highly
symbolic image I would make a portrait
of what we’re looking at really I think
is the cultural archaeology of our time
right now you know these are the ghosts
of our consumption I think they’re
haunting the natural world in a
terrifying way
big
yeah it’s an incredibly remote area
where exactly are you on this no right
here Marshall Kodiak say 80 miles by air
the nearest neighbor is 25 miles these
are the real soil beaches when should
you get out here this is really dirty in
one day with my skiff I picked up six
hundred pounds of net off this these
beaches Coleen and Jerry live here in
their home and I’m sure their idea was
to live away from most of humanity in
the most beautiful setting they could
imagine I’m sure it wasn’t part of the
deal in their mind to live with all of
our garbage so that’s my weighing
station where I that’s right there is
where I separate the debris water
bottles single-use plastic it’s very
meta
I’m impressed how news you know some of
the neatest trash I’ve ever seen here
this isn’t a great one if I can pull
this out this is you can probably come
up and look at it but almost every piece
of plastic debris you find that will fit
in a bearish mouth has those kind of
tooth marks on it the Bears are
fascinated with plastic and they eat it
so what is your most weird bizarre
object can you think of it I think that
the thing I found that really surprised
me the most was a plastic mannequin head
as far as just out of place uncanny you
know yeah yeah I think she’s doing
something extraordinary I mean she this
is sheer labor and done for love and
she’s she’s doing the work of 100 people
it’s amazing I felt like it was
impossible to conquer last year but now
I’m thinking I’m amazed at what I’ve
seen happen in the last year with the
awareness and the motivation we’re
looking at buoys right now but in those
bags is every kind of household thing
it’s a real chance for us to take a look
at our lives as a species and say what
are we doing here to see this bottle
that was laying on this beautiful beach
now
of those to use a year and what can you
do and remember when used to find
seashells
how’s this actually being in a place
like this and here’s someone talked
about the packaging of our lives yes
it’s not for the faint-hearted
all right
I think there’s never been a society
that has produced more material culture
and taken less responsibility for these
things don’t bother me in everyday life
and they bother me on everyday life on
the beaches of the world so in my
composition
I want the trash to stay as trash you
know I want this to be an emblem of the
material culture of a specific people
and a specific time
we’ll nose up into the bay for world
position the Norseman so we have a
different kind of chore here a lot of
the beaches we’ve been longer than all
of you know 100 yards 50 yards a quarter
mile this Beach is 10 kilometers
we are the second crew to come off the
Norseman having to land a little bit
further up the coast off the Jew bodice
and essentially what we’re doing is
ferrying several thousand pounds of
debris off this beautiful coastline
the size of this bad part there if I put
my hand in it goes from there to there
so that must be what that’s over a foot
in it
geez I see one big big mother
we’re seeing a large round there and
it’s very very impressive and really
magnificent and it’s very big these are
the biggest brown bears in the world in
this region and that’s one of them I
don’t have the words those little Cubs
were amazing the way they clustered
around her and it just is you know I
think a once-in-a-lifetime image to see
her that close and just see the hair
over her back just blowing in the wind
and the baby jumping on top and just a
whole unfolding of a moment
I peppers why we’re here thank you the
action of cleaning a beach changes you
it puts you in the position of care and
understanding something about our
connection to the natural world I will
take back mainly the vitality of the
animals that we’ve seen and the sheer
physical beauty of the place which is
just a complete knockout people want to
see the original world they don’t want
to arrive and see the garbage of
millions of people that has beat them to
the place what’s important about this
trip is reconnecting with wild places
for me putting people in nature Foster’s
love and you know and love motivates a
change of behavior
you
you
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