Marina DeBris, an Australian environmental artist, hopes that her latest sculpture, which will be displayed at a Sydney beach exhibition, will depict the power of one person in the fight against marine pollution.
“Just a drop in the ocean, said 7.8 billion people,” is on display at Sculpture by the Sea, which recently opened.
Over 100 artworks are on display along the 2km (1.24 mile) coastal walk between Sydney’s Bondi Beach and Tamarama, with 500,000 visitors expected over the course of three weeks.
“It’s about how one person can make a positive or negative difference,” said DeBris, who goes by a punny alias to highlight the dangers that plastic and waste pose to marine life.
People may not believe their actions matter in the grand scheme, but she told Reuters that if everyone picked up one piece of trash, 7.8 billion pieces of trash would be removed.
DeBris, who starts her day by collecting trash washed up on beaches, has been turning the trash into sculptures and wearable art since 2009.
Her work has been dubbed “trashion,” and she claims it has raised awareness about single-use plastics and ocean pollution.
A study conducted by the University of New South Wales last year discovered that 84% of rubbish found on Australian beaches was plastic, and that littering was responsible for approximately 40% of marine debris.
“Without a hesitation, we aren’t doing well almost enough,” DeBris said, adding that although things appeared to have been improving over the past decade, the growth of single-use plastics as a result of industrialization has exacerbated the problem. result of COVID-19 was a significant setback.
“Everything fell apart as soon as COVID arrived… “I’m not sure how we’ll get back there,” she admitted.