I found out about Chris Jordan by seeing his Running the Numbers series a few years ago. I’ve been following his work, Midway, since then, as it’s been in progress since 2009 (if you’re familiar with my personal work, you might see why I am so drawn to this beautiful project). However, I was totally unaware until I received a message from a Tumblr follower last night that Chris is currently making a film about this work, Midway: Message from the Gyre. I am blown away by the imagery and the message of this film trailer.
From the artist’s statement: On Midway Atoll, a remote cluster of islands more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent, the detritus of our mass consumption surfaces in an astonishing place: inside the stomachs of thousands of dead baby albatrosses. The nesting chicks are fed lethal quantities of plastic by their parents, who mistake the floating trash for food as they forage over the vast polluted Pacific Ocean.
For me, kneeling over their carcasses is like looking into a macabre mirror. These birds reflect back an appallingly emblematic result of the collective trance of our consumerism and runaway industrial growth. Like the albatross, we first-world humans find ourselves lacking the ability to discern anymore what is nourishing from what is toxic to our lives and our spirits. Choked to death on our waste, the mythical albatross calls upon us to recognize that our greatest challenge lies not out there, but in here.
From “Midway: Message from the Gyre”
Visit artist's site: chrisjordan.com
Posted February 21st, 2013
