The Sixth Gyre: Art, Oceans, and Plastic Pollution

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The Sixth Gyre: Art, Oceans, and Plastic Pollution

O‘ahu Room, Open 8am – 4pm, Monday-Thursday

*Also check out The Nature of Waste: Global Artists Respond (see below)

Participating International Artists:

  • Pam Longobardi, USA
  • Susan Middleton, USA
  • David Liittschwager, USA
  • Andrew Hughes, UK
  • Dianna Cohen, USA
  • Andrew McNaughton, Kenya
  • Michelle Lougee, USA

The seven artists collaborating in this exhibit have embarked on striking personal journeys of discovery, creating visual interpretations of the environmental problems caused by marine pollution. In its entirety their work directs us to an inescapable vantage point, one where it is no longer credible to maintain a culpable ignorance of the impacts plastic pollution is having on our oceans and the wildlife and human populations dependent on them. In combining these works the viewer’s experience mirrors this intimate path of discovery and insight each artist relates.

Taken together, this body of work is transformative, enabling viewers to interpret their own role in the creation of marine pollution. Specific pieces bridge the boundary between in situ representation of the topic and artistic imagination. The inherent creativity in the collaboration prompts the viewer to seek novel measures to reduce used plastics from ending up in our oceans rather than be overwhelmed by the challenge. The viewer ultimately shifts from blaming others to taking personal responsibility, engaged with the marine environment and therefore invested in finding solutions to reducing marine pollution sources.

Organizers:

  • Pam Longobardi, Artist, Professor of Art, Georgia State University
  • Wayne Sentman, Field Education Manager, Oceanic Society, San Francisco, CA

To read more about this exhibit and the participating artists, visit

This project has been supported by

Sappho's Mirror I - Found ocean plastic from South Point, Hawaii Installation at Primo Piano LivinGallery Lecce, Italy 2010 Image from 'Drifters: Plastics, Pollution and Personhood' | © Pam Longobardi and CHARTA (Milan/NY) 2009

"Octoplas" Michelle Lougee Woven from reclaimed plastic bags. © 2009 Michelle Lougee

"Pineapples" Andrew McNaughton Made from flip-flops collected from beaches of Watamu, Kenya © Andy McNaughton 2010

"Get in Line" Andrew Hughes Photography Image from Dominant Wave Theory | © Andy Hughes MA RCA 2007



The Nature of Waste: Global Artists Respond

Digital Exhibition Streaming at:

  • Fifth International Marine Debris Conference (5IMDC) Exhibit Hall, Honolulu, HI • Mar 20-25, 2011
  • CENCIA Symposium, Georgia State University, Atlanta • April 11-15, 2011

Participating Artists:

  • Andrew McNaughton- Kenya
  • Andy Hughes – Cornwall, UK
  • Angelika Heckhausen – Germany
  • Barbara de Vries – Miami, USA
  • Ciel Bergman- New Mexico, USA
  • Dianna Cohen – California, USA
  • Dyan Ferren – Alaska, USA
  • Elizabeth Leader – New York, USA
  • Fran Crowe – Suffolk, UK
  • Ghost Nets – Australia
  • Ha Schult – Germany
  • Helen Chellin, Hawaii and California, USA
  • Joan Hall – Missouri, USA
  • John Dahlsen – Australia
  • John Vonderlin – California
  • Judith Selby Lang and Richard Lang – California, USA
  • Julie Ganser – Wisconsin, USA
  • Kara Daving – Missouri, USA
  • Kyle Browne – Maine, USA
  • Maarten Vanden Eynde – Belgium
  • Mark Dion -New York and Pennsylvania, USA
  • Michelle Smith – Hawaii, USA
  • Pam Longobardi – Georgia, USA
  • Ramon Knoester- Netherlands
  • Skelton Sea – Germany and Portugal
  • Steve McPherson – Kent, UK
  • Teresa Espaniola – California, USA

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