Intertwined Stories

In September 2020, New Zealander Dr Stephanie Borelle PhD published, along with her colleagues at National Socio-Ecological Synthesis Centre (SESYNC), the results of two years of modelling future scenarios. They were seeking to discover how effective global commitments to reduce plastic pollution in the face of increasing production, consumption, and population growth would be. These are her findings in her words:

It turns out if governments around the world adhere to their global commitments to reduce plastic pollution, and all other countries join in these efforts, in 2030, we may still emit as much as 53 M.T. of plastic waste into the world’s freshwater and marine ecosystems. Global commitments do not match the scale of the problem. So, then we wanted to know how much effort it would be to achieve a global reduction target of less than 8 M.T. using existing mitigation strategies:

Reducing plastic waste (which includes bans)
Improving waste management
Recovery (i.e. clean-up) from the environment

The level of effort is astonishing, even with parallel actions in all three solutions. We have to reduce plastic waste by 25–40% across all economies and we have to increase the level of waste management by extraordinary numbers – from 6% to 60% managed in low-income economies, AND We have to clean up 40% of annual plastic emissions. To put this final number into people-power, the clean-up effort alone would require the efforts of at least 1 billion people participating in Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup – a Herculean task given this is a 90,000% increase in affirmative action from the 2019 clean-up.

Intertwined Stories is a new series in development as the artist considers what this research means for the future. It forms part of an ongoing exploration of ‘water as an archive for memory, feeling, desire and ecological trauma’, she tells us. Employing both cameraless and photographic techniques, Intertwined Stories explores the tension between the surface beauty of the ocean and the plastic pollution beneath the surface.

Cultural theorist Janine Macleod describes the sea as ‘an infinite water in which everything is retained and where all times mingle together.’ Astrida Neimanis expands on this theory: ‘it enables the sensuous experience of disparate temporalities and sutures the past to the future.’

Salvaged on daily beach walks, Woods-Jack’s collection of ocean plastics grows. ‘Each piece is a testament to consumption. Each item of ocean rubbish washed up on our beaches holds a narrative of consumerism, of time spent with the item as an individual or collectively and, more importantly, a lack of care in waste management both personally and collectively. Upon entering our waterways and the ecosystem, plastics fracture into tiny pieces, indiscernible from their original form and use, leaving trauma in its wake.’

When enlarged, the shape and form of the fragmented objects take on a sculptural appearance. The endless floating of these colourful, shiny objects in the dark depths of these images aims to draw the viewer in much in the way we are drawn to consume. This series, paired with pictures of the ocean’s surface (see banner image above) and the research findings of the data above, aims to engage the audience into a deeper conversation and affirmative action at all levels about how we consume and engage with the world around us.

Virginia Woods-Jack is a British-born photographic artist, advocate and curator currently living and working in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Her practice explores notions of connection to place, materiality and memory to consider relationships between the human and more-than-human worlds. She aims to understand how memory informs how people interact with the natural environment to highlight the importance of care in navigating the climate crisis, which is integral to preserving the planet.

Woods-Jack is the founder and curator of Women in Photography NZ & AU. She has exhibited widely, both locally and internationally, and her work is held in private collections in New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Europe and the United Kingdom.