How I use art to tackle plastic pollution in our oceans Alejandro Durn

This is Sian Ka’an.

Just south of Tulum
on Mexico’s Caribbean coast,

it’s a federally protected reserve,

a UNESCO World Heritage Site

and one of the most biodiverse
regions on the planet.

But when I first visited in 2010,

I was horrified and completely confused

as to why the beach was covered in trash.

I soon realized that it was floating in
from all over the world.

I’ve since returned,
after that first journey,

several times a year

to visit Sian Ka’an,
to the country of my birth,

to work with this trash.

And so far,

we’ve documented garbage from
58 different countries and territories

on six continents,

all washing ashore
in this paradise in Mexico.

Although I can never know
where a product was dropped,

I can, at times, based on the label,
know where something was made.

In red, you see all of the countries
represented by their trash

in Sian Ka’an.

Such as these Haitian butter containers
in all shapes and sizes,

Jamaican water bottles.

Not surprisingly, a lot of the stuff
is from neighboring Caribbean countries,

but the stuff is from everywhere.

Here’s a sampling
of international water bottles.

And one of the ironies is that
a lot of what I’m finding

are products for cleaning
and beautification,

such as this item from the United States,

which is actually made
to protect your plastic,

(Laughter)

shampoo from South Korea,

bleach from Costa Rica

and a Norwegian toilet cleaner.

And it’s items that are all
very familiar to us,

or at least I hope you’re familiar
with these toothbrushes.

(Laughter)

Kitchen utensils.

Toys.

I’m also finding evidence
of burning plastic trash,

which releases cancer-causing
fumes into the air.

People ask what’s the most
interesting item that I’ve found,

and that’s by far this prosthetic leg.

And in the background, if you can see
that blue little bottle cap,

at the time that I found it,

it was actually the home
to this little hermit crab.

This guy is so cute.

(Laughter)

And it’s these fascinating objects,

but also horrifying objects,

each with their own history,

that I use to make my ephemeral,
environmental artworks.

And it all started with this image
in February of 2010,

when I first visited Sian Ka’an.

I noticed that blue was the most
prevalent color among the plastic.

Purple is actually the most rare color.
It’s kind of like gold to me.

But blue is the most prevalent,

and so I gathered some of the blues

and made this little arrangement
in front of the blue sky

and blue Caribbean waters.

And when I took a photograph
and looked at the test shot,

it was like a lightning bolt
hit me in that moment,

and I knew I was going
to have to come back

to create a whole series
of installations on location

and photograph them.

So this turned out to be a sketch

for a work that I completed
three years later.

I had no idea that almost 10 years later,

almost a decade later,
I’d still be working on it.

But the problem persists.

So I’m going to show you
some of the images

from the series that I called “Washed Up:
Transforming a Trashed Landscape.”

Please keep in mind that
I do not paint the garbage.

I’m collecting it
and organizing it by color

on the same beaches where I find it.

This is my precious trash pile
as seen in 2015

after putting on a first edition
of the “Museo de la Basura,”

or “Museum of Garbage.”

It’s fully my intention
to care for this garbage,

to exalt it,

put it on a pedestal

and to curate it.

We have all seen devastating images

of animals dying
with plastic in their bellies.

And it’s so important for us
to really see those

and to take those in.

But it’s by making aesthetic –
some might say beautiful – arrangements

out of the world’s waste,

that I’m trying to hook the viewer

to draw in those that might be numb
to the horrors of the world

and give them a different way
to understand what’s happening.

Some have described
the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

as an island twice the size of Texas,

but I’ve been told that it’s hard to see

because it’s more like a smog.

So through my artwork,

I attempt to depict the reality
of what’s happening with our environment

and to make the invisible visible.

My key question at first,
after starting the project,

was, “What do I do
with the garbage when I’m done?”

I was told by some
that it could be damaged goods

after traveling across the ocean
and being exposed to the elements,

that it could become degraded
and potentially ruin a batch of recycling.

The landfill was not
a happy resting place, either.

And then finally, it dawned on me,

after all of the effort by me
and all of the people who have helped me

collect and organize and clean this trash,

that I should keep it.

And so that’s the plan,

to use it and to reuse it endlessly

to make more artwork

and to engage communities
in environmental art-making.

This is an example of a community-based
artwork that we did last year

with the local youth
of Punta Allen in Sian Ka’an.

A key part of the community work
are the beach cleans

and education programming.

And as this community
around the project grows

and as my trash collection grows,

I really believe that
the impact will as well.

And so, over the years,

I’ve become a little obsessed
with my trash collection.

I pack it into suitcases
and travel with it.

I take it on vacation with me.

(Laughter)

And in the latest work,

I’ve begun to break the two-dimensional
plane of the photograph.

I’m really excited about this new work.

I see these as living artworks

that will morph and grow over time.

Although my greatest wish
is that I run out of the raw material

for this work,

we’re not there yet.

So in the next phase of the project,

I plan on continuing the community work

and making my own work
at a much larger scale,

because the problem is massive.

Eight million tons of plastic waste
enter our oceans every year,

destroying ecosystems.

Right now, as I speak, there’s literally
an oil spill of plastic happening.

I see this project as a plea for help
and a call to action.

Our health and future
is inextricably linked

to that of our oceans.

I call the project “Washed Up:
Transforming a Trashed Landscape,”

but it’s actually transformed me

and made me rethink
my own behaviors and consumption.

And if it can help anybody else
gain more awareness,

then it will have been worthwhile.

Thank you so much.

(Applause)