Creativity fighting pollution. Von Wong: Mermaids Hate Plastic.

American artist and photographer Benjamin Von Wong uses his creative genius to focus our attention on an environmental issue that affects all of us: plastic pollution that is causing huge damage, in the oceans particularly.


When Benjamin Von Wong read that an average American uses 167 plastic bottles a year, he did some quick calculations. It means that in 60 years, they will have used - and thrown away - 10,000 plastic bottles, and even if you only multiply that by Americans, without considering the rest of the world, it's an unbelievable amount. Even more so if you think that it takes approximately 450 years for a single bottle of plastic to degrade.
A huge problem that Benjamin Von Wong decided to dive into with all the “naivety of an artist” as he says, trying to make something that is seriously taking over life in the oceans  (link article Dutch guy) and turn it into something interesting to the general public. We live in an era of images, of prevalently visual communication so he thought a bit of art was necessary to combine beauty and impact, to bring plastic pollution to the forefront of everybody's mind and make it comprehensible.
Benjamin Von Wong reached out to his friends for help, but perfect strangers who heard about his #MermaidsHatePlastic initiative through the social media also got involved. He sourced 10,000 plastic bottles from a waste management centre in California, then volunteers removed the labels, un-capped and cleaned them. They were then sorted by colour to create a plastic sea and beach, which formed the backdrop for his photos of a model dressed and body-painted as a mermaid.
The photos were taken in an industrial warehouse - lent for the purpose by a volunteer - and they send out a clear signal: we are producing seas of garbage that is killing marine life. 
Since #MermaidsHatePlastic perhaps each and every one of us can do something to save our oceans, fundamental to life on our planet, so why not do your bit by being more aware of your use of plastic, and going with re-useable bottles? In the end, it's a simple thing to do.

Christiane Bürkleim

Project: Benjamin Von Wong
Year: 2016 - ongoing
Images: © Benjamin Von Wong
http://blog.vonwong.com/mermaidplastic/
https://www.change.org/p/i-pledge-to-re-use-because-mermaids-hate-plastic