Zoë Barker
For the last few months photographer Zoë Barker has used a stopwatch to time how long it takes her to find one hundred fragments of rubbish on her local Ryde beach (predominantly plastics but also metals and fabrics). The record is 4 minutes and 06 seconds, which equates to finding one fragment every 2.46 seconds. The smallest fragments measure just 2mm across.
Each set of one hundred objects has been arranged and photographed and a selection of these images are presented side by side in this exhibition. The title of each image is the number of minutes and seconds that it took to assemble each batch of one hundred.
What these numbers tell us about the state of our oceans is horrifying.
Running in parallel with her 100 Fragments Project, Zoë has also been exploring other ways in which she might ‘showcase’ her finds. Using old tins found at boot sales, Zoë’s lost and broken objects, once destined to break down slowly in the sea, are ‘rescued’ and given a new purpose, each composition creating something unexpected and surprisingly beautiful.
This is a long-term project and Zoë continues to photograph objects in her collection and scour Island beaches.
Zoë will be our Meet the Artist at art_house_life 2.30-3.30pm Wed 24th July.
Commission queries via: zoe@onanisland.co.uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zoebarkerphotographer
