14 DAY TRIAL // An unusual and eye-opening exhibition, which attempts to create awareness about marine debris and plastic pollution, opens on June 7 at the San Francisco Zoo in California.
The project is called “Washed Ashore” and includes over 30 sculptures made entirely from trash collected from the beaches. It's the brainchild of Oregon artist and teacher Angela Haseltine Pozzi, who decided to start the initiative when she noticed the beaches of her home town Bandon in Oregon were full of plastic litter.
All of the materials used to create the giant sculptures that are currently on display in the San Francisco Zoo's old elephant area were gathered by thousands of volunteers recruited by the 53-year-old artist to clean up the beaches.
According to Amusing Planet, Pozzi and her team have collected an overwhelming amount of trash from Pacific beaches in the last three years, more than 11 tons of debris, to be more precise.
The enormous sculptures that were created using sea debris represent sea life creatures that are most affected by plastic pollution, including a huge starfish, a sea turtle, a suspended wiggly eel, a sea lion and a wide range of fish.
“We turn plastic pollution from the ocean into aesthetically powerful art – and bring dramatic attention to the problem,” the organizers say on the project's website.
Zoo officials say they hope the exhibit will make people reconsider their trash disposing habits.
