Thirza Schaap

Photographer

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. Plastic from the Ocean. Colourful and beautiful in its own tragic way. ‘Plastic Ocean’ is an art project, which I started to create awareness around pollution to try and prevent (or at least reduce) the use of plastic. 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.