Sand and debris: Chapter 8 Research for Conservation Theme-Fishing for Litter

Hi Sian, There are four designs (to be whittled down to 3) which I think could be enlarged to A3. I've put A3 possibility in red at the beginning of the caption with a few thoughts beside. Marine waste is my theme. I have used tissue paper for the colour designs. Many thanks, Nicky

Fishing for Litter

20,000 tonnes of litter is dumped into the North Sea alone every year. Fishing for Litter is a simple scheme that provides fishing boats with large bags to collect their marine sourced litter.

When full, these bags are taken to the quayside for collection and disposal. This reduces the volume of rubbish washed up on our beaches and the amount of time fishermen spend untangling their nets.

The initiative not only involves the direct removal of litter from the sea, but also raises awareness of the significance of the problem amongst each community. The project started with a pilot scheme in the Netherlands and now runs in the UK and beyond.

The scheme is run by KIMO UKwho work to protect, preserve, and enhance northern Europe’s marine environment.

www.kimointernational.org/FishingforLitter.aspx

Conversations with Fishermen

I work part-time for the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen in Lowestoft, Suffolk. I asked some of the local fishermen what were the strangest things they had ever trawled from the sea. Here are some of their replies:-

A dead horse
Dinosaur bones and teeth, one Captain collects these
Human bones
A torpedo shell
Amber, so large it is now in the Amber Museum in Southwold

The Bethel Ships

Thank you Sian for your suggestion that sails are an interesting shape to consider when designing my wall-hanging. I have therefore included a picture of the Mission’s original Bethel Ships. Ray, my husband has just restored a model of one of these and asked me to make new sails for her.

Artist Study

I found a link to Georgina Maxwell on the Fishing for Litter website. I’ve got into the habit now of collecting debris when I go for my beach walks.

Georgina Maxwell www.zhibit.org/ecomarineart

'My art practice draws attention to the suffering and imminent extinction of cetaceans and other marine wildlife within a plastic-profit-driven society.

More than four billion tons of non-biodegradable plastic is dumped in the oceans every year. I have been collecting marine debris from the Cornish coastlines for the past eleven years.

During my research into chemical compounds inherent in plastics, it became apparent that marine pollution is responsible for, not only the ingestion and entanglement, but also the leaching of dioxins causing diseases such as cancer, endocrine disruption, immune system failure and other debilitating, fatal illnesses to innocent, intelligent, sentient marine life.'

Titles of some of Georgina's work which can be seen on her website.

PlasticPlanet; found pens

Toxic Ocean Blues 4; plastic pellets

Ode to an Albatross; plastic flowers and other synthetic objects

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall; aluminium cans

Visual Reference

Rubbish collected from South Beach, Lowestoft

An albtross mistakes plastic for food for her chicks. Sea turtles become entangled in drifting plastic. Fishermen trawl a dead horse from the sea.

Photos of litter on Lowestoft's blue flag beach and strange things trawled up in fishing nets.

Verbal Information

endless ‘plastic soup’ of waste
drifting
sea of rubbish
translucent
below the water's surface
kills more than a million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals every year
syringes, cigarettes lighters, toothbrushes masquerade as food
46,000 pieces of floating plastic per square mile
hundreds of millions of tiny plastic pellets…

Below links to a photo of a baby albatross who has died from being fed plastic instead of food. It's an upsetting image. This research has caused me to examine my use of plastic and to certainly be aware of how I dispose of it.

http://boingboing.net/2009/10/19/photos-of-remote-bir.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/the-worlds-rubbish-dump-a-tip-t

NB: The above site was my source for this information, the link is currently unavailable.

Drawings, Colours and textures

Abstract Words to Illustrate Theme

choking	collusion
dangerous	destructive
drifting	endless
floating	light
mimic	overflowing
squeezed	suspended
tangled	toxic
translucent	weightless

endless ‘plastic soup’ of waste, translucent

A3 possibility This design is on white paper, but my thought was to enlarge it on a transparent background. I was thinking that rather than enlarging the shapes, there would just be more of them in a larger space. This could be translated into stitch on dissolvable film as small jewels or treasures, perhaps using organzas to create translucent fragments. I think it illustrates the theme well although I find the shapes jarring and I'm not sure about the circle though it is 'soup in a bowl' shaped.

A3 possibility The background for this is cellophane from a bunch of flowers. I like the dancing sail shapes. The yellow shapes are inspired by dinosaur finger bones. I like the cast shadows on the wall behind. As above, I was thinking that rather than enlarging the shapes, there would just be more of them in a larger space stitched on soluble film.

I haven't bonded with this one at all. It actually looks better on the blog than on my wall.

46,000 pieces of floating plastic per square mile

A3 possibility There are 46 squares on this design. I've considered two possibilites for enlarging. Either using this as a pattern block which could be turned and repeated to to fill a larger space, or creating a tryptych by cutting and flipping the block.

hundreds of millions of tiny plastic pellets…

A3 possibility This is also on a recycled cellophane background. Dancing sails again with lots of dots and cast shadows. Could be used as a repeating block. Again my thought was stitch on dissolvable film