Our Plastic Ocean: Mandy Barker

Our Plastic Ocean by international award winning photographer Mandy Barker, addressed the current global crisis of marine plastic pollution. Baker collects debris from shorelines around the world and transforms them into powerful and captivating images. From accompanying scientists on an expedition from Hawaii to Japan, tracing the debris of the 2011 Tsunami, to a voyage on board Greenpeace's Beluga II to the Inner Hebrides, Mandy Barker has followed a trail of plastic pollution across the globe. Our Plastic Ocean, which premiered at Impressions Gallery in Bradford, is the first major touring retrospective of Barker's work, spanning a decade of her practice. The exhibition included works such as the series Soup, meticulously detailed composite images of discarded plastic objects; Albatross revealing 276 pieces of plastic found inside the stomach of a 90 day old albatross chick; and Beyond Drifting, which sees Barker trace the footsteps of nineteenth century botanist John Vaughan Thompson who collected plankton specimens, the ocean's most basic life-form. An Impressions Gallery touring exhibition, curated by Angela Sheard. Supported using public funding by Arts Council England. Printing and mounting by Spectrum Photographic.