Thirza Schaap / Plastic Ocean
Thirza Schaap‘s Plastic Ocean project brings to light the overabundance of pollution and plastic littering out beaches through sculptures of found objects. The response is meant to be beautiful yet eye-opening in contrast, as Schaap hopes to draw attention and help reduce the use of plastic.
As a child, I would walk over beaches and through fields and forests to collect beautiful shells, shimmering stones, feathers and funnily shaped branches. Much later, after I had moved from Holland to South Africa, I found myself doing the same thing. Only to discover, that I started filling my pockets with trash instead of treasure. In making artistic sculptures out of the objects I find, I try to evoke an emotional response from my audience by creating a contradiction. A clash between initial aesthetic attraction and after a second look repulsion and the realisation of the tragedy trash causes. Our beaches are covered in plastic confetti and there really is nothing to celebrate.
Shop Thirza Schaap’s Plastic Ocean here
