National Geographic Research

 

Microplastics 

The photo by David Liitschwager at the top of this article shows how plastic is dominating the natural environment, with the one helpless looking fish in the centre surrounded by hundreds of fragments of plastic. It looks exactly like the litter I found on the beach, mostly consisting of fishing rope with other random broken bits of stuff mixed in. The caption notes that the image 'shows how intertwined microplastics are in the daily lives of marine animals.' which relates to my work because I want to talk about how our everyday lifestyles are directly impacting these fragile ecosystems through the imagery of packaging (tetrapaks) with an aquatic themed colour palette. The article also defines microplastics and talks about how it occurs and the effects they have, so I found that really useful. 

Marine Pollution

I used this article to get a better understanding of what exactly is polluting the sea and where it comes from, as well as the complicated way it impacts the environment from microscopic levels through to large scale, and the interconnectedness of the ecosystem means the pollution has a knock on effect that travels across species, eventually reaching it's way back to us humans through our food and I'd like my work to refer to the self-destructive nature of this cycle, I think my marbled cartons communicate this because I talked about how the black swirling lines not only imply pollution but also suggest that the product is spoiled and 'gone off'.