Canadian photographer Benjamin Von Wong uses his creative mastery to turn a pile of 10,000 plastic bottles into captivating photos to spark conversation about ocean pollution.
Artist and photographer Benjamin Von Wong felt that ocean plastic, due to its complexity, can be a boring topic. So, he created a visually engaging collection of photographs that make this subject more interesting and comprehensible.
In this series of photographs, Von Wong features a mermaid, and a sea made up of thousands of plastic bottles. According to the artist, he chose the mermaid as a unique and beautiful symbol to represent the ocean and the used plastic bottles to highlight the topic of plastic pollution.
Plastic Tear 
Plastic Drain 
Plastic Ocean 
Plastic Beach
The project, curated by Von Wong, was a collaborative work with various artists and supporters involving 10,000 bottles* borrowed from waste management company Tomra, which were then de-labelled, uncapped and prepared by many volunteers. The production took place in a warehouse, where the team of talented creatives worked with different mediums and equipment on a multi-scale operation, leaving us with these striking images that bring the issue of plastic pollution closer to our minds.
*The number reflects the average usage of plastic bottles by an American for the course of their lifetime, calculated from an approximate yearly usage figure.
