Mandy Barker grew up collecting shells and driftwood, she now collects plastic for her photography work. Barker creates eye capturing images through ugly facts of pollution and plastic waste. Barker is well known for her ‘SOUP’ series which is created from ‘Plastic soup’. This is made up from the plastic debris which is suspended in the ocean, this is only 30% of the plastic which enters the ocean, the other 70% sinks. Barker regularly takes part in world research expeditions to recover plastic which she then uses for her photography work. Originally Barker took photos of the plastic on the beach as she found it however she didn’t believe she was getting the recognition which she needed to make an impact. This led to her new style of working in which she collected plastic and took photos of it up against a black sheet to create beautiful images which would capture peoples attention and then get the message across.

“clean-ups are brilliant to remove the plastic that’s there, but we shouldn’t be needing to clean up. We should be stopping it from actually entering the ocean. That’s the most important thing.” Mandy Barker

Mandy Barker: SOUP

Mandy barker uses her SOUP project to bring attention to the increasing concern on oceanic plastic. She does this through travelling the world, visiting beaches and collecting bits of plastic with a range of different sized objects from microplastics to commonplace objects such as toothbrushes and bottle caps. Back in her studio Barker then uses these objects to create large dizzying photographs. She thoughtfully arranges these objects and takes these photographs from various distances, composing these images with the aim to overwhelm as well as educate the public about the detrimental effects of marine plastic.

https://www.sfomuseum.org/exhibitions/mandy-barker-soup

I have chosen to respond to Mandy Barker as I like how her work looks as it is full of bright colours and it creates an illusion that it is something that it is not. I also like the aim behind Barkers work which is to capture peoples eyes through the beauty of the image and then display them with the ugly truth which is how people have effected earth in a negative way. Barker’s work relates to the theme of Anthropocene to a high level as it shows exactly how people have negatively impacted the earth through littering and she does this through collecting all the litter and other debris that she can find and photographing it.

Analysis

At a first glance this photo appears to be a beautiful brightly coloured image which almost looks like it has been taken from out of space or underwater. However when you look closely it is actually made up of many bottle caps which have been merged together using editing. This shows how many bottle caps Mandy Barker has come across during her time recovering plastic across beaches and shores. This photo shows Barkers aim with her photography, her aim is to catch peoples eyes with a beautiful image to then display them with the hard truth of Anthropocene and how people have had a bad impact on earth.

How will I respond?

To respond to Mandy Barker I will collect rubbish from around my house and I will then use a black background to photograph it. I will use a camera to take these photos. I will use rubbish collected from my house to show just how much rubbish people use daily.