PLENTY MORE FISH IN THE SEA

PLENTY MORE FISH IN THE SEA - 2012

 

Installation, E Block, Southbank Institute of TAFE, South Brisbane, Qld.

Plastic flower arrangement, plastic vase, plastic bowls & spoons,

folding chairs, plastic milk carton, plastic cloth, chalk, plastic waste.

(For all enquiries contact - karenstephens.art@gmail.com)

 

PLENTY MORE FISH IN THE SEA

by Karen Stephens

I really wonder if there will be an abundance of sea life in years to come and whether this proverb will hold any worth in our current culture. 
 

The title of my installation analyses our society at present that is caught in a vortex of consuming.   It moves at such a rate we can only think of today and ‘the now’.
 

Plastics are created from oil and plastics and are ubiquitous in our post-modern culture.  Daily, tonnes of disposed waste heads to an aquatic grave to ride the ocean's currents. 
 

Our sea life reflects ourselves and our future.  Plastic waste dumped into our oceans become faux food for our sea life.  This issue has become global and plastics on Australian shores have been traced to other nations from currents.  Plastics from 1960 are yet to biodegrade and continue to pollute our oceans.   
 

Sea animals and marine life have become the innocent victims of the plastic pollution.  Mistaking the small plastic pieces for plankton or food, turtles, seals, adult sea birds and their chicks are all choking and dying at a rapid pace due to our ignorance and our continual cycle of consuming and disposing. 
 

Rapidly growing numbers of deceased birds have been discovered on Australian shores with their gut and intestinal tracts full of plastic items.  Recently one deceased Mutton Bird was found with 275 pieces of plastic in a lab analysis which would’ve accounted to 15% of its body weight. 
 

I encourage you to consider this for a moment.  If an average human adult weighs 55kg to 75kg, 15% of this body weight equals 8 – 12kg.  This would be the extra weight from plastic if we were forced to consume plastics.   
 

My installation presents the turtles rendered in chalk on purpose.  Chalk is impermanent and fades which reflects our society’s current attitude.   As the masses walk over the figures they too will fade much like the ignorance of the issue.  Some may walk over them without even noticing or the issue may seem too large and overwhelming to know how to stop the plastic pollution. Others may be so narcissistic and not even consider the turtles, believing impunity at the top of the food chain. 

The plastic pollution is a ticking time bomb.  Along with our sea life we will slowly poison ourselves from carcinogenic plankton living on plastic articles at the bottom of the food chain. Larger animals dine on the smaller end of the food chain arriving at human consumption at the top of the chain.