Human Trash
Last Winter I was fed up. Not with cold days but with what I was finding every time I went outside. Rubbish. Discarded waste. Human Trash.
The more I looked, the more I would find. It was frankly depressing and infuriating to my kids also. “How hard is it to just put your rubbish in a bin!” they would exclaim as I’d reach down again to pick something up to stuff into a pocket or throw into my car boot. A lot of this would be on suburban streets, Sunday mornings being the worst with a guarantee of discarded McDonalds rubbish on my front lawn. Chatting to a local friend, his front lawn is the same. It appears our houses are the perfect meal time consumption distance for 2am intoxicated burger eaters.
The most emotional trash finds for me though are the ones we come across when out in the bush or at the beach. There is something that hits harder when you see rubbish discarded at such pristine places. It’s utterly mindless behaviour. I find it so hard to understand. If you can walk in and out you can do the same with whatever you have on you. After our visit to the Cairns Turtle Rehabilitation Centre (which you can read about here) the kids are increasingly aware of how even the smallest piece of discarded rubbish can physically harm or kill an innocent creature. The care and consideration they show to the world around them is beautiful, I am proud of them for it. To see them distressed and bewildered at peoples behaviour far older and supposedly ‘wiser’ then them is saddening as a parent. They can’t fathom how someone would ever want to hurt an animal. But it happens, whether intentionally or through lazy actions such as littering.
I believe the disconnect some people feel to animals is troublesome. It breads a lack of empathy towards living things and the environment. It got me thinking how as a society we have grown accustomed to seeing images of animals entangled in rubbish, but what if we flipped that on its head? What if it was us? Would those who litter mindlessly do so if it was their own children who would end up physically harmed by it?
I decided to embark on a short personal photography project to express some of my frustrations with littering and hopefully challenge some attitudes. I was well aware I would likely be preaching to an already environmentally conscious audience, but I went ahead with the project as you never know when you might change one viewpoint. One viewpoint that leads to a behavioural change. One behavioural change that starts a ripple.
I give you Human Trash. My first step at starting a ripple.
“With hands reached up to the sky, we let our rubbish fall. A flood of indifference, drowning all that is wild. Careless seconds bleed into lost time. Dregs of consumption speak our universal truth.”
Bushland in Buln Buln, Gippsland - Model Nicolette Snowden. Assistant: Laurie Everaert
Above & Below: In the freezing waters at Kilcunda Beach, Gippsland. Model - Logan Tilbury Anderson. Assistant- Jordan Kruijer Hall
Would you survive?
Entanglement. Snared. Complications. Difficulties involved.
Avon River, Gippsland. Model- Jordan Kruijer Hall
Plastic wrapping from hay silage litters regional landscapes. Caught in barbed wire fences, briefly trapped before floating to the rivers edge.
Crime Scene
All of the rubbish seen in these images was found at the location or on the roadside en route to the shoot, the lone exception being the bubble wrap (below image).
Neerim South, Gippsland. Models- James and Mia Duiker
Farmland is not immune to public trash.
Kerryn is passionate about animal rights and the environment. Having to consistently pick up rubbish in her animals paddocks is infuriating. Rubbish is thrown carelessly from passing cars with no thought of the risks posed to animals digesting.
Sale, Gippsland. Model - Kerryn Vaughn
“Humans created this mess. Now it’s time to clean it up.”
The process of doing these shoots heightened my awareness on how much roadside rubbish there is. It was easy for me to pull over, walk for 20 meters and have ample trash to use in a photograph. Areas such as the site in Buln Buln are one of the many hidden dumping grounds not visible by road. Often frequented by serial offenders an array of trash abounds including household litter, white goods, cars, and chemical waste. This site was reported to Council for clean up. All the other rubbish found and used in the shoots was taken home by myself and disposed of responsibly/recycled where possible.
Thank you for reading and please do what you can to leave a place better than you found it. Be part of the positive ripple.x
A huge THANK YOU to all my trusting models that volunteered for this project without fully knowing what they would be asked to do! I am always humbled by the collective power when good people unite to express, help others and create.
Thank you also to Gippslandia for giving me a valued platform to advocate and Si for the rad page design. Legends.
Gippslandia, Spring 2019 Edition.