STILL (FFS)

Dignity in death, after ingesting marine plastic pollution, Lord Howe Island, Australia

(with oil painting, Lord Howe Museum)

Dignity in death, after ingesting marine plastic pollution, Lord Howe Island, Australia

(with oil painting, Lord Howe Museum)

Dignity in death, after ingesting marine plastic pollution, Lord Howe Island, Australia

(imagining outstretched wings of its former self, with reflection from display, Lord Howe Museum)

Dignity in death, after ingesting marine plastic pollution, Lord Howe Island, Australia

(soaring with other birds up to the playground in the sky, shadowed reflection, Lord Howe Museum)

Dignity in death, after ingesting marine plastic pollution, Lord Howe Island, Australia

(Shearwater chick with shell from the shoreline from where the bird was recovered)

Dignity in death, after ingesting marine plastic pollution, Lord Howe Island, Australia

(with the Milky Way above the colony on Lord Howe Island)

Dignity in death, after ingesting marine plastic pollution, Lord Howe Island, Australia

(with the patterned hand-made cloth bag used to recover the dying birds)

Dignity in death, after ingesting marine plastic pollution, Lord Howe Island, Australia

(with a reflection of the other birds that live on Lord Howe Island)

Dignity in death, after ingesting marine plastic pollution, Lord Howe Island, Australia

(with the surrounding habitat of Lord Howe Island)

Dignity in death, after ingesting marine plastic pollution, Lord Howe Island, Australia

(with a reflection of the distant landscape of Lord Howe Island)

Dignity in death, after ingesting marine plastic pollution, Lord Howe Island, Australia

(on the laboratory bench before scientists remove plastic from the bird’s stomach, with reflection from window)

Dignity in death, after ingesting marine plastic pollution, Lord Howe Island, Australia - for the birds that sleep no more

(on the laboratory bench before scientists remove plastic from the bird’s stomach, with reflection from window)

Dignity in death, after ingesting marine plastic pollution, Lord Howe Island, Australia

(with flora & foliage from Lord Howe Island)

Dignity in death, after ingesting marine plastic pollution, Lord Howe Island, Australia

(with a reflection of lava showing the volcanic formation of Lord Howe Island, Lord Howe Museum)

Dignity in death, after ingesting marine plastic pollution, Lord Howe Island, Australia

(with surrounding habitat and red flowers of Lord Howe Island)

Dignity in death, after ingesting marine plastic pollution, Lord Howe Island, Australia

(showing plastic pollution within the Shearwater’s stomach during the process of removal for scientific research)

(scientific sample, April 2012, Lord Howe Island)

(scientific sample, April 2012, Lord Howe Island)

(scientific sample, April 2012, Lord Howe Island)

Marine plastic debris recovered from the stomachs of Flesh-Footed Shearwater chicks, Lord Howe Island, 2019

Marine plastic debris recovered from the stomachs of Flesh-Footed Shearwater chicks, Lord Howe Island, 2019

Marine plastic debris recovered from the stomachs of Flesh-Footed Shearwater chicks, Lord Howe Island, 2019

Marine plastic debris recovered from the stomachs of Flesh-Footed Shearwater chicks, Lord Howe Island, 2019

Marine plastic pollution pieces recovered from the stomachs of Flesh-Footed Shearwaters

(displayed as ‘faces’ to engage the viewer - and for people to bear witness to what we as humans have done to the planet)

Marine plastic pollution pieces recovered from the stomachs of Flesh-Footed Shearwaters

(displayed as ‘ice’ to engage the viewer with the climate change issue of melting ice caps, along with the issue of plastic pollution)

Marine plastic pollution with text, numbers & symbols recovered from the stomachs of Flesh-Footed Shearwaters

(includes; text from an oil company, the world’s #1 plastic polluter, a tag to be recycled, and a piece showing ingredients by weight from single-use packaging)

Marine plastic pollution piece recovered from the stomach of a Flesh-Footed Shearwater

Marine plastic pollution piece recovered from the stomach of a Flesh-Footed Shearwater

Marine plastic pollution tag that should have been recycled, fed to the chick by the parent Shearwater, found at the burrow of a Flesh-Footed Shearwater fledgling

(this tag has been foraged at sea and carried in the stomach of the adult bird)

Marine plastic pollution balloon tie and balloon fed to the chick by the parent Shearwater, found at the burrow of a Flesh-Footed Shearwater fledgling

(this object has been foraged at sea and carried in the stomach of the adult bird)

(photograph of bird-spotting board taken at a nature reserve - the list recorded by a child shows the younger generation’s enthusiasm & interest in birds)

(Silent Spring and Rachel Carson, biologist, author, and conservationist still influential 50 years on)

(And no birds sing…)

(articles & research about the issue)

(initial ideas)

(Shearwater struggles to fly out to sea, but later ends up in the science lab having plastic removed from its stomach for research)

(birds photographed on top of the bags they were recovered in)

(on opening the recovery bag the bird presented itself to me in the shape of a tear)

(just a few images of the many recovered birds - practising different positions with dignity)

(sand & sky)

(plastic pieces removed before my very eyes from the birds stomach)

(a face like the queen)

(a green gem, and a composite image showing a vast collection of recovered plastic from the Shearwater’s stomachs)

(then & now)