© 2022 All rights reserved - The Eye of Photography
Subscribe now for full access to The Eye of Photography! That’s thousands of images and articles, documenting the history of the medium of photography and its evolution during the last decades, through a unique daily journal.
Subscribe now for full access to The Eye of Photography! That’s thousands of images and articles, documenting the history of the medium of photography and its evolution during the last decades, through a unique daily journal.
Subscribe now for full access to The Eye of Photography! That’s thousands of images and articles, documenting the history of the medium of photography and its evolution during the last decades, through a unique daily journal.
Subscribe now for full access to The Eye of Photography! That’s thousands of images and articles, documenting the history of the medium of photography and its evolution during the last decades, through a unique daily journal.
Subscribe now for full access to The Eye of Photography! That’s thousands of images and articles, documenting the history of the medium of photography and its evolution during the last decades, through a unique daily journal.
Subscribe now for full access to The Eye of Photography! That’s thousands of images and articles, documenting the history of the medium of photography and its evolution during the last decades, through a unique daily journal.
Subscribe now for full access to The Eye of Photography! That’s thousands of images and articles, documenting the history of the medium of photography and its evolution during the last decades, through a unique daily journal.
Subscribe now for full access to The Eye of Photography! That’s thousands of images and articles, documenting the history of the medium of photography and its evolution during the last decades, through a unique daily journal.
Two stray dogs face off in contaminated water seeping in from a landfill dump laced with plastic bags, textiles and sheeting that has come to resemble and mingle with fabrics. This water, and plastic, will find its way into Buckingham Canal that will finally deliver the plastic and toxins into the Bay of Bengal. The microplastics and toxins will be consumed by the fish that are caught and bound for market. Chennai, India Roughly 60% of clothing worldwide is made from synthetic fibers – plastic. 56% of the fibers in clothes in India are synthetic - plastic. The Indian government doubled the import tariffs on 196 synthetic fibers from 10% to 20% in 2017 but still there was a 62% year on year growth in synthetic fibers imports. Actual Date: August/September 2016 (Camera was brand new and wrong date set. Shot while presenting work at Pondy Photo 2016) © James Whitlow Delano
No corner of the planet, no matter how remote, is free from plastic: Plastic bottles and other garbage fill a drainage ditch set beside what will be a road on the periphery of the remote Tibetan plateau city of Litang which continues to encroach upon and degrade the fragile 4,000m meter (13,123 ft) high grassland. In 2019, researchers found microplastic in Arctic ice in greater concentration than in the surrounding Arctic Ocean waters. Earlier this year, explorers found plastic in the Marianas Trench in the Pacific, the deepest place on the planet. Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan, Peoples Republic of China (Kham, Tibet) 26 February 2018 © James Whitlow Delano
An unceremonious, contaminated end of an Andean glacier: The very end of La Rinconada's main, receding glacier that tumbles down the flanks of Mt. Ananea, entangled in a web of plastic hoses delivering water to the mines and the community. The ground in front of it is littered with plastic bags - and plastic sheeting is even spread out on the surface of the glacier itself. La Rinconada, Peru No corner of the planet, no matter how remote [this one at the highest permanent settlement on the planet at over 5,400m (over 17,700 ft)], is free from plastic. In 2019, researchers found microplastic in Arctic ice in greater concentration than in the surrounding Arctic Ocean waters. Earlier this year, explorers found plastic in the Marianas Trench in the Pacific, the deepest place on the planet. Date: 27 November 2018 © James Whitlow Delano
Plastic, washed up on a Malaysian beach, rests at the high tide line. Bottles were found from China and Vietnam on this beach. Marang, Terengganu, Malaysia Six of the top ten contributors to ocean plastics surround the South China Sea. Malaysia is one of them and it is reflected in the tons of plastic washing up on its shores. Date: 20 October 2019 © James Whitlow Delano
Young woman in Tokyo convenience store surrounded by single-use plastic packaging. Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan Date: 24 July 2018 © James Whitlow Delano
Contemplation after sipping soda from a polystyrene cup, a plastic lid and plastic straw. Guadalajara, Mexico Although it is possible to recycle polystyrene, it is a type of plastic which is not commonly recycled. Date: 13 November 2017 © James Whitlow Delano
Young men from Happyland slum in Tondo, Manila working at a plastic recycling workshop. Tondo and other Metro Manila slums are overrun with plastic and other recyclable materials, creating a business opportunity and recycling operations have sprung up in Happyland more than most other places. Philippines Date: 27 May 2018 © James Whitlow Delano
Plastic accumulates in the Tullahan River delta shortly before it empties into Manila Bay and eventually the South China Sea. Six of the top 10 contributors to ocean plastic are the nations surrounding the South China Sea. The Philippines is the world’s third largest contributor to ocean plastic behind China and Indonesia. Date: 4 July 2017 © James Whitlow Delano
Boatman on makeshift rafts, made from found plastic and scraps of wood, collects plastic recyclables that accumulate along the banks for the 'dead' Yamuna River in Delhi. India He can make up to 5000 Rupees (roughly US$ 74) per month collecting plastic and other recyclable trash. Figures vary depending on the study but the Ganges/Brahmaputra River system as the world's 6th largest river contributor to ocean, according to a 2017 Environmental Science & Technology report. According to the report, 10 rivers contribute 93% of plastic into the Ocean. 8 out of those 10 rivers are in Asia. Date: 7 July 2018 © James Whitlow Delano
Plastic has accumulated under this informal house in the Tullahan River delta that in many places the water is no longer visible. The Tullahan empties into Manila Bay and eventually the South China Sea less than 100 meters away. Six of the top 10 contributors to ocean plastic are the nations surrounding the South China Sea. The Philippines is the world’s third largest contributor to ocean plastic behind China and Indonesia. Date: 4 July 2017 © James Whitlow Delano
Man sorts recyclable plastics at a recycling business in Happyland district in the Tondo slum. Manila, Philippines Tondo and other Metro Manila slums are overrun with plastic and other recyclable materials, creating a business opportunity and recycling operations have sprung up in Happyland more than most other places. Date: 27 May 2018 © James Whitlow Delano
Miner returns to his little corrugated metal house along a precipice cliff laden with single-use plastic trash at La Rinconada gold mine complex at over 5,400 m (over 17,700 ft) in Peru. No corner of the planet, no matter how remote [this one at the highest permanent settlement on the planet at over 5,400m (over 17,700 ft)], is free from plastic. In 2019, researchers found microplastic in Arctic ice in greater concentration than in the surrounding Arctic Ocean waters. Earlier this year, explorers found plastic in the Marianas Trench in the Pacific, the deepest place on the planet. Miners, who are mostly indigenous Quechuas and Aymaras, work in the traditional "cachorreo" system, where they labor for 30 days without pay for the company, that holds the mining concession, and then the miners work for one day mining for themselves. Luck plays a large part - as miners could earn anywhere from nothing to a fortune in any given month. Smuggling out the best bits of ore, during the 30 day unpaid labor period, of course, is common. Date: 19 November 2018 © James Whitlow Delano
The exhibition “Drowning in Plastic” by James Whitlow Delano will open at the Pangea Photo Festival in Italy on 18 June through 18 September 2022. Here is the introduction to the series.
Here’s the biggest problem with plastic: It is one of humanity’s most versatile inventions. Even steel, a metal alloy, which can be bent into a pretzel, is heavier and less versatile by a long shot than plastics. Plastics can be strong, rock hard and light, tensile in the extreme and cushion soft. They can be formed into any shape and can even stand up to extreme heat.
Now after decades of overuse of single-use plastic, we are literally drowning in the plastic we’ve thrown away – by 2017, the world had produced a grand total of 8.3 billion metric tonnes of plastic, one tonne for every person on the planet. Most of it, 6.3 billion metric tonnes, can be found in landfill sites but another 8 million metric tonnes of plastic enters our oceans each year because roughly 2 billion people live within 48 km (30 miles) of the sea.
Plastic is literally in every corner of the planet. In 2019, researchers found microplastic in Arctic ice in greater concentrations than in the surrounding Arctic Ocean waters – the same year, explorers found plastic in the Marianas Trench in the Pacific, the deepest place on the planet. 46% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by mass is made up of plastic “ghost” fishing nets, lost by fishermen.
Zooplankton, minute organisms that form the very foundation of the marine food chain, are consuming microplastic, and microfibers from synthetic (plastic) clothing – mistaking them for food, because, unlike most other materials, it does not biodegrade. Plastic breaks into smaller and smaller pieces – of plastic. They eat less nutrient-rich food while absorbing toxins from the plastic. These toxins are passed up the food chain by predators. Those toxins accumulate, most affecting those at the top of that fish-consuming chain like sharks, toothed-whales, seals, seabirds and us. 90% of seabirds are eating plastic according to an Australian study in 2015. Some seabirds have been found with so much plastic in stuck in their stomachs that there was no room left for food. Slowly they starve.
A visit to a home center in Tokyo, where I live, is to fully immerse in the spectrum of plastics – carbon-fiber this, Teflon that, strawberries displayed in clear plastic containers, kept moist beneath wafer-thin plastic wrap, and beef garnished with green plastic leaves, offered in Styrofoam trays printed to look like wood.
There are shelves full of plastic artificial turf for the patio, plastic faux-wood floors, shiny-plastic rice cookers and coffee makers for the kitchen; hard-plastic towers of drawers for the bedroom, plastic televisions and soft-leatherette sofa and loveseat combos for the living room; plastic plants in plastic pots for the window sill, plastic rakes and hoses for the garden; shampoo, soap, skin lotions and make-up for the bathroom packaged in every color of the plastic rainbow; clear plastic umbrellas for the frequent rains, and plastic toys in bright, shining plastic-coated paper boxes for the kids.
Even 60% of our clothes are made from synthetic fibers – plastic. Aisle upon aisle of cheap, polyester and acrylic clothing – spanning all age categories from cradle to grave – hang neatly in rows of racks.
Finally, consumers patiently wait in lines, pushing plastic shopping carts, preparing to pile their purchases onto a plastic conveyor belt, to be scanned by a clerk into a plastic-encased cash register, paid for with a plastic credit card, before stuffing it all into single-use plastic bags to be carried home.
This series explores the environmental plague of plastic waste, the scale of the challenge and shows how, although it bears down hardest on the developing world, the challenge of plastic waste disposal spares no country.
Pangea Photo Festival 18 June – 18 September 2022 Ginepreto, Castelnovo ne’ Monti, Italy https://www.pangeaphotofestival.it/
Subscribe now for full access to The Eye of Photography! That’s thousands of images and articles, documenting the history of the medium of photography and its evolution during the last decades, through a unique daily journal.
Stephen Bulger Gallery 1356 Dundas Street West, Toronto, ON M6J 1Y2, Canada from June 23rd, 2022 to August 27th, 2022
Alliance française de Rio de Janeiro R. Andrade Neves, 315 - Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, 20510-230, Brésil from June 16th, 2022 to June 23rd, 2022
L'Angle Galerie 6 Rue des Citronniers, 64700 Hendaye, France from June 15th, 2022 to July 31st, 2022
Prix Herez Corpo Paris, France from June 9th, 2022 to July 1st, 2022
OnephotoOnedayOneyear 5 Bis rue des Moulins, 13200 Arles, France from July 4th, 2022 to July 11th, 2022
8th Triennial of Photography Hamburg Hambourg, Allemagne from April 18th, 2022 to September 18th, 2022
Subscribe now for full access to The Eye of Photography! That’s thousands of images and articles, documenting the history of the medium of photography and its evolution during the last decades, through a unique daily journal.
to continue improving our independent magazine or to make a great gift to one of your loved ones (from 5 euros for a one-month subscription and 50 euros for a 1-year subscription).
PS: for gifts, please send us the email of the lucky one to info [at] loeildelaphotographie.com
Every morning, receive the latest world photography news and events. And it's free!
Every morning, receive the latest world photography news and events. And it’s free!
Languages EN FR Agenda Newsletter Yes No Leave this field empty if you're human: Today's headlines Bernard Millot Bert Van Pelt Michael S. Honegger
© 2022 All rights reserved - The Eye of Photography