mandy barker recomposes 769 washed-up footballs to highlight marine pollution

mandy barker recomposes 769 washed-up footballs to highlight marine pollution
(above) the world
all images courtesy of mandy barker

with 769 pieces of marine debris as a medium, UK based photographer mandy barker has composed ‘penalty’, a series of images which hope to raise global awareness about the issue of plastic pollution in our seas at the time of the world cup. the work consists of four different photos showing mass collections of balls recovered from around the world, europe and the united kingdom along with 228 pieces collected by a single person. barker sent out a request via social media to ask the public to save footballs they found washed up on the beach.

(above) europe

the result was an international response with people posting images of recovered items from global locations, providing the content for the series: 769 plastic footballs and 223 other types of trash have been collected from 41 different countries and islands, 144 different beaches by nearly 90 members of the public. while individually photographing each ball, barker has meticulously cataloged every retrieval with a description of where and when it was found, the story behind each ball, and photographs from its recovered location. the artist hopes the series will ‘highlight the penalty we will ultimately pay for this global problem.’

(above) united kingdom

(above) one person