- Title: Australia-based artist transforms beach rubbish into art
- Date: 21st October 2022
- Summary: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (OCTOBER 19, 2022) (REUTERS) (MUTE) DRONE FOOTAGE OF SYDNEY COAST FROM BONDI BEACH TO COOGEE BEACH SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (RECENT - OCTOBER 10, 2022) (REUTERS) (MUTE) VARIOUS OF DRONE FOOTAGE OF BOATS AT BAY ENVIRONMENTAL ARTIST, MARINA DEBRIS, WALKING ALONG BAY DEBRIS PICKING UP DISCARDED MILK BOTTLE DEBRIS PLACING RUBBISH INTO BAG / DEBRIS PICKING UP RUBBISH PIECE OF POLYSTYRENE ON SAND DISCARDED MILK BOTTLE SURROUNDED BY BLUE BOTTLES (SOUNDBITE) (English) ENVIRONMENTAL ARTIST, MARINA DEBRIS, SAYING: "I cannot go a day, I feel guilty if I go a day without coming down here. I'm pretty much the only one who collects on this beach that I know of, so, I feel like I'm kind of the steward of this particular beach and it's pretty bad like it can get really bad." DEBRIS PULLING NETTING OUT FROM UNDERNEATH ROCK / DEBRIS HOLDING UP NET (SOUNDBITE) (English) ENVIRONMENTAL ARTIST, MARINA DEBRIS, SAYING: "And I saw Bondi Beach and I thought, oh, I could live here in a nanosecond and I moved here, and it was very clean, as I remembered. And then I moved, nine years later I moved to Los Angeles and I instantly noticed how much rubbish was washing up and that's when I started collecting it. And it still took me about nine years from then to start making art out of it, and it was just really purely frustration to do something with the rubbish I was collecting and try to make a statement." VARIOUS OF DEBRIS WALKING ALONG THE BEACH DEBRIS PICKING UP SOCK LYING AMONG SEAWEED AND EMPTYING SAND OUT OF IT SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (RECENT - OCTOBER 6, 2022) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF DEBRIS WORKING ON THE SCULPTURE IN THE GARAGE DEBRIS ATTACHING RUBBISH TO SCULPTURE BOTTLE / DEBRIS WORKING ON SCULPTURE DEBRIS ATTACHING DISCARDED DOLL TO SCULPTURE (SOUNDBITE) (English) ENVIRONMENTAL ARTIST, MARINA DEBRIS, SAYING: "This piece is about the power of one really, it's called 'Just a drop in the ocean, said 7.8 billion people', so it's about how one person can make a difference in a positive way or in a negative way." DEBRIS DIGGING THROUGH PILE OF RUBBISH PILE OF RUBBISH DEBRIS DIGGING THROUGH PILE OF RUBBISH (SOUNDBITE) (English) ENVIRONMENTAL ARTIST, MARINA DEBRIS, SAYING: "Certainly it's ugly, it's an ugly subject and I just want people to react in a way where they kind of gasp and take notice of how much waste we're putting out in the ocean. Not intentionally, it's not being chucked out there, it's just by way of... there are many ways that rubbish enters the ocean and a lot of it is just accidentally." SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (OCTOBER 19, 2022) (REUTERS) (MUTE) DRONE FOOTAGE OF DEBRIS STANDING NEXT TO A FINISHED SCULPTURE INSTALLED ON THE COAST DEBRIS TAKING PHOTOS OF SCULPTURE SCULPTURE PERSON TAKING A PHOTO OF A SCULPTURE (SOUNDBITE) (English) LOCAL RESIDENT, JIM TSAGANAS, SAYING: "Kinda sad if that's how much stuff's washing up on our shore, but it's good that someone's out there actually collecting it and doing something out of it, I guess it's recycling in a way. It also is a symbol that we need to be a little bit more careful with how we dispose of plastics and not what (whatnot)." PEOPLE TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS IN FRONT OF ANOTHER SCULPTURE IN THE 'SCULPTURE BY THE SEA' EXHIBITION PERSON TAKING PHOTO PEOPLE WALKING PAST ANOTHER SCULPTURE IN THE EXHIBITION (SOUNDBITE) (English) SILVER SALTIES SURF LIFESAVING MEMBER, ROZANNE GREEN, SAYING: "The sad thing is that all those pieces of rubbish are in our oceans and, so that's the sad thing. The good thing is that it's being picked up and used and maybe it'll bring, maybe people when they read about it, they'll be more aware of what they're doing with their rubbish." STATE GOVERNMENT SIGN ABOUT OCEAN DEBRIS ON SCULPTURE VARIOUS OF SCULPTURE SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (RECENT - OCTOBER 10, 2022) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ENVIRONMENTAL ARTIST, MARINA DEBRIS, SAYING: "Without a doubt, we are not doing nearly enough and, just the average person is not doing enough, the governments are not doing enough, the manufacturers (are) not doing enough. And it's sad because before COVID I think there was a really great leverage from the war on waste, the program, which people were really interested and excited to help, and then as soon as COVID came, everything went out the window and it was all single-use everything, single-use and I just don't know how we're going to get back there." SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (OCTOBER 19, 2022) (REUTERS) (MUTE) DRONE FOOTAGE OF SCULPTURE ON ROCKS NEXT TO BONDI BEACH
- Embargoed: 4th November 2022 00:26
- Keywords: Australia Marina DeBris Sculpture by the Sea Sydney art environment ocean pollution plastic pollution single use plastic trash trashion waste
- Location: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
- City: SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA
- Country: Australia
- Topics: Asia / Pacific,Australia,Environment
- Reuters ID: LVA001096609102022RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Nearly every morning, an Australia-based environmental artist heads down to her local beach in Sydney to collect rubbish that has washed ashore overnight.
Marina DeBris, who uses a pseudonym, has been doing this for over 20 years, yet every morning, there is more that needs collecting.
"I feel guilty if I go a day without coming down here," the American-born artist told Reuters. "I feel like I'm kind of the steward of this particular beach… it can get really bad."
In 2009, frustrated by the continued state of pollution when she was living in the U.S. city of Los Angeles, DeBris put her creative talents to work and began transforming trash into sculptures, to raise awareness about single-use plastics and ocean pollution.
"It was just really purely frustration to do something with the rubbish I was collecting and try to make a statement."
DeBris's works are made wholly of reused materials, or as close as she can get to that, which also includes the wires used to connect pieces to the hand drill she uses, which she found dumped on the street. Even the plastic bags she uses to collect the rubbish have been either found on the streets or rescued from recycling bins where they do not belong.
She also does not clean or alters the rubbish before using them in her works as she does not want to glorify it, preferring to confront her viewers with the rubbish in its raw form.
DeBris's latest sculpture, 'Just a drop in the ocean, said 7.8 billion people', is currently on display as part of the three-week 'Sculpture by the Sea' open-air art exhibition located near Bondi Beach, which opened on Friday (October 21) and will run until November 7.
Explaining the name of the artwork, DeBris said that while people may not feel like their actions matter in the big picture, if every single person in the world picked up one piece of rubbish, that would be 7.8 billion pieces of rubbish, making a significant impact on ocean pollution.
"It's ugly, it's an ugly subject and I just want people to react in a way where they kind of gasp and take notice of how much waste we're putting out in the ocean," she said.
Local residents who viewed the sculpture said it made them sad to see the amount of waste that had ended up in the ocean, but were glad DeBris had reused pieces to create awareness.
A 2021 study led by the University of New South Wales found that 84% of rubbish found across Australian beaches was plastic, and about 40% of marine debris was caused by littering.
"Without a doubt, we are not doing nearly enough," DeBris said. She said that whilst things appeared to be getting better over the past decade, the rise of single-use plastics due to COVID-19 was a real setback.
"As soon as COVID came, everything went out the window... and I just don't know how we're going to get back there."
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