CROWN 2.5L
Working camera constructed from marine plastic debris recovered from 9 different countries and oceans around the world.
In June 2019 I was invited by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office in collaboration with Pew Trusts, to join the Henderson Island Plastic Pollution Expedition 2019, a research and clean-up operation to this uninhabited island which sits more than 5,000km from the nearest major land mass and is one of only two raised coral atolls in the world. I chose to represent this unique UNESCO World Heritage site, home to many endemic species, and approximately 10 tonnes of plastic - by using recovered marine plastic debris itself to take the images.
A camera constructed from objects recovered from 9 different countries and oceans around the world including; a chopping board, plastic bottle parts, an industrial tube, discs, toy wheels, and a luggage tag. Together with a reconditioned Schneider lens, the camera takes images using medium format film. The main component and field of view is through a plastic poultry feeder found washed up from the North Sea, and imprinted with the words ‘CROWN 2.5L Taiwan’. A toy car wheel was the first plastic object I picked up in a cave on the East beach of Henderson, and this completed the construction of the camera, making it ready to use by turning the wheel to focus.
A combination of journeys travelled in the sea by the camera’s components reflect an amalgamation of disorder and concern, but at the same time a chance interaction, a coming together of parts to create a new use far removed from each object’s own individual purpose.
The images generated from this project aren’t intended to be perfect. The concept is to reflect an ‘imperfect’ world, using the camera itself to bring a different approach and engagement to the issue of marine plastic pollution.
“The images taken with this camera have passed through the cavity of a chicken feeder - to give a new thought process and unique focus, to the issue of plastic - photographing the very pollution it is itself, created from”
____________________
Camera body (chicken feeder) - ‘Made In Taiwan’.
Camera & Case ‘Made In England’ created from recovered marine plastic debris objects from 9 different countries (Croatia, England, Greece, Hawaii USA, Henderson Island, Hong Kong, Ireland, Lord Howe Island Australia, and Scotland), and 9 different oceans (Adriatic Sea, Celtic Sea, Irish Sea, South China Sea, South Pacific Ocean, Tasmanian Sea, Mediterranean Sea, North Sea, and the North Pacific Ocean).
Reconditioned Schneider Symmar-S 5.6/240 lens, Made In Germany. Photographs taken on Henderson Island, South Pacific.
Design & Construction of Camera - Edward & Simon Webster, Hopewell Studios, England.
(CROWN 2.5L is one of three projects created as part of the Henderson Island Expedition 2019).
____________________
Scientific Research:
To read about the research conducted on Henderson Island during this expedition by Dr Jenn Lavers and Dr Alex Bond, please click on the title below;
Plastic debris increases circadian temperature extremes in beach sediments
Journal of Hazardous Materials, August 2021
