Our Role In Plastic Pollution Through Photos

Plastic usage is increasing all over the world and with that comes more plastic waste. What is our role in this global crisis?

Line of photographs taken at Yiwu International Trade city on display at the exhibition. Photo Credit: Shae Lynn Quek

At ArtScience Museum’s latest photography exhibition, Planet or Plastic?, learn more about the global crisis through photographs that tell the story of plastics.

Plastic pollution has become one of the world’s pressing global matters, as the use of plastic products rapidly increases all over the world. Presented together with National Geographic, they shared this with Singapore to raise awareness and get visitors to choose the planet over plastic.

With over 70 powerful photographs, step into a gallery full of stories that show the evolution of plastics to its devastating impact on the planet.

“Environmental issues such as plastic pollution are important to ArtScience Museum. We believe that if we work together with our visitors, we can take practical actions in our everyday lives that can make a real difference. . . ,” said Honor Harger, Executive Director of ArtScience Museum, Marina Bay Sands.

Inside, the exhibition was split into six thematic sections that guided visitors through the photographs and aided their understanding of the problem.

Roughly 5.3 million to 14 million tons of unrecycled plastic waste ends up in the ocean near coastal regions each year, according to National Geographic. Through visual story-telling, this can be a way to make people more aware of the plastic crisis.

Jordi Chias’ image of a turtle ensnared in a plastic fishing net is an upsetting sight, along with images of other animals with destroyed habitats due to plastic debris and fishes with microplastics injected inside them as they mistake it for food.

“The photo of the turtle stuck with the fishing net, or the other pictures of how our plastic rubbish affected marine life - clearly send the message better than a thousand words trying to describe the critical moment,” said Thie Santoso Fongerts, Managing Director of his small business.

However, there is light at the end of the tunnel as we continue to explore how we can change things.

With an estimated 8.3 billion plastic straws in 2019 that polluted the world’s beaches, according to National Geographic, not only will you learn about plastic pollution, you

will also learn ways to reduce your usage of single-use plastic by saying goodbye to plastic straws and bags and swapping them out for reusable ones.

Towards the end, there was an interactive section that put focus on how COVID-19 increased plastic waste. Additionally, these interactive elements included fun facts that you can answer using their feet, instead of your hands to minimise contact in the midst of the pandemic. Before leaving the exhibition, you can pledge to choose the planet over plastic and to share how you will make efforts to reduce your use of single-use plastic.

“Though I was already aware of how single-use plastic is plaguing the planet, visiting the exhibition heightened my awareness and increased the need to share about my experience both at the exhibition and as a person trying to lead a sustainable lifestyle.” said Ashley Ho, Self-employed.

Do you wish to do more in saving Mother Earth? ArtScience Museum has organised a series of events such as workshops and activities such as a beach clean-up, where you can help remove plastic waste from Singapore’s shores.

Admission tickets are at $16 for adults and the exhibition is being held until 28 March 2021 so you have plenty of time to head down to ArtScience Museum and visit.

As the world’s plastic pollution problem snowballs, our role in helping the environment is even bigger. With photographs that are worth a thousand words, the mix of art and science come together to tell us to choose the planet over plastic.