Chris Jordan, Midway, 2009-present (photograph)
Midway, 2009-present is a striking photo documentation series by Chris Jordan that examines the internal digestive tracts of dead albatross seabirds and chicks. The digestive tracts are filled with whole pieces of colourful plastic objects from lighters to bottle tops. This series is a physical representation of the biological process of biomagnification because the sea birds swallow plastic but they cannot digest and pass it therefore, it accumulates inside their bodies. These pieces of plastic choke them from the inside, “Greenpeace estimates that a million seabirds a year die of plastic ingestion”. In the photographs the birds are cut open to display the piles of plastic pieces within. This is interesting because the plastic doesn’t simply affect abiotic systems but also biological processes. The plastic has become a part of the albatross birds on a macro and micro level as the birds eat toxic fish (micro) and consume whole pieces of plastic (macro) that they misinterpret to be fish.
http://www.chrisjordan.com/gallery/midway-film/#trailer
http://www.chrisjordan.com/gallery/midway-film/#trailer