Mandy Barker is an internationally award-winning photographic artist whose work has involved marine plastic debris for 15 years. Her photographs have received global recognition, including from Sir David Attenborough and UNESCO.
Working with scientists, Barker aims to raise awareness about plastic pollution in the world's oceans, highlighting the harmful effects on marine life, climate change and ultimately ourselves – leading the viewer to take action.
It’s not often that we see totally unique images, so Mandy's thought-provoking still-life shots instantly caught our attention.
Her Soup images are inspired by the mass accumulation of plastic waste in the North Pacific Ocean and aim to raise awareness of plastic pollution, which is a noble task.
Interview
"I recovered the marine plastic debris for these images from a nature reserve on the east coast of Yorkshire, collecting artificial flowers, leaves, clothing tags, balls of fishing line, and partially incinerated or burned plastic.
"The plastic for my image Soup: Refused was recovered from a Greek island, washed up on the shoreline and being eaten by goats.
Barker's mission is to spread awareness of plastic pollution through her photography. To do this, she works with the Canon EOS 5D Mark III and Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM lens. You can discover more of Barker's work on her website or Instagram.
"The images are intended to be attractive to draw the viewer in. Once the viewer has read the shocking information in the caption, hopefully it leads to the subsequent message of awareness.
"My ultimate aim is that people will be disturbed by what they see – enough to want to make change themselves, either through their own plastic consumption, signing petitions, speaking to their local MP or getting involved with holding manufacturers to account.
"I have visited many locations around the world to recover plastic – some of them are the most remote places on Earth, which can involve sailing on boats, climbing and abseiling down cliffs or hacking through jungle, all of which have had their challenges.
"I speak internationally to engage people with the plastic issue and I talk about these expeditions, as it's important to know about a specific area in the world or a species that is being affected.
"To create my images, I randomly scatter the pieces of plastic on a black background in my studio, sometimes creating several layers that are then sandwiched together.
"I leave the plastic unwashed and unaltered, as I found it on the shore, and this follows through to my editing, which is very minimal, to overlay the layers using Photoshop.
"People ask me what the strangest thing is that I've found. There are many! From false teeth to toilet seats, but the strangest has to be a plastic pigeon that I stared at for quite some time before realizing it wasn't real.
"I'm never surprised by what I find in the sea any more, but then, at the same time, I always find something that I’ve never found before."
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