Carpintarias de São Lázaro

R. de São Lázaro 72, 1150-199 Lisboa

28 . 09 . 2024 → 31 . 10 . 2024

thursday - saunday → 12:00 pm – 06:00 pm

Artist

Mandy Barker

‘Still – not moving or making a sound, undisturbed by wind, sound or current’.

The largest breeding colony for the Flesh-Footed Shearwater seabird is on Lord Howe Island, a stunning volcanic location between Australia and New Zealand, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site of global significance. The majority of the island is virtually untouched forest, with a unique tropical climate. Many of the plants and animals are found nowhere else in the world. However, there is a darker side to the island. Plastic foraged out at sea by the parent Shearwaters is being fed to their fledgling chicks, which ultimately causes starvation and death.

Barker joined scientists on Lord Howe Island in April 2019, a short window of time when the fledgling chicks leave their burrows, and migrate to the Sea of Japan to begin their new life. Except, alongside the scientists, Barker found the birds dying on the shoreline and unable to fly because of the weight of plastic in their stomachs. The work is a response to the ongoing situation on Lord Howe Island and the increasing decline of the Flesh-Footed Shearwater.

The photographs aim to represent each individual Shearwater with dignity during death, and as a contradiction between the dying birds and the stunningly beautiful environment of Lord Howe Island. The series forms a narrative of a Shearwater’s life once lived, a playground in blue seas and skies, forest habitat, and the surroundings that make up this breath-taking tropical island. Gradually the series of images are consumed by red, with only the final image showing actual plastic within the bird, a subtle timeline that represents the increasing toxicity of plastic pollution harboured within.

The abbreviation for the Flesh-Footed Shearwater, FFSH, has been changed to FFS (For F***s Sake), a conscious decision to try to reach the younger generation along with new audiences, and as a reflection of Barker’s ongoing motivation and frustration to continue to represent the issue of marine plastic pollution and call to action.

“My intention for this work, is that the birds presented in this series that have suffered and died from ingesting plastic pollution, will be seen around the world – and will serve as a legacy to the ones that have gone before them, and the others that will continue to do so. Nothing will ever come close to the sensation of picking up this wild and stunning bird to feel and hear plastic crunch within its stomach…””

Many thanks to scientists at Adrift Lab; Dr Jenn Lavers and Dr Alex Bond, for allowing me to work alongside them to create this series and to raise further awareness of their ongoing research. To read about their research please view the STILL (FFS) series on my website www.mandy-barker.com