Australia-based artist transforms beach rubbish into art

Marina DeBris, who uses a pseudonym, has been doing this for over 20 years, yet every morning, there is more that needs collecting.

In 2009, frustrated by the continued state of pollution when she was living in the U.S. city of Los Angeles, DeBris put her creative talents to work and began transforming trash into sculptures, to raise awareness about single-use plastics and ocean pollution.

DeBris's works are made wholly of reused materials, or as close as she can get to that, which also includes the wires used to connect pieces to the hand drill she uses, which she found dumped on the street. Even the plastic bags she uses to collect the rubbish have been either found on the streets or rescued from recycling bins where they do not belong.

She also does not clean or alter the rubbish before using them in her works as she does not want to glorify it, preferring to confront her viewers with the rubbish in its raw form.

DeBris's latest sculpture, 'Just a drop in the ocean, said 7.8 billion people', is currently on display as part of the three-week 'Sculpture by the Sea' open-air art exhibition located near Bondi Beach, which opened on Friday (October 21) and will run until November 7.

Explaining the name of the artwork, DeBris said that while people may not feel like their actions matter in the big picture, if every single person in the world picked up one piece of rubbish, that would be 7.8 billion pieces of rubbish, making a significant impact on ocean pollution.

Local residents who viewed the sculpture said it made them sad to see the amount of waste that had ended up in the ocean, but were glad DeBris had reused pieces to create awareness.

A 2021 study led by the University of New South Wales found that 84% of rubbish found across Australian beaches was plastic, and about 40% of marine debris was caused by littering.