Paris Fry

After watching the BBC documentary ‘Drowning in Plastics’ I chose to initially draw my research towards the fast fashion industry and how it was negatively impacting the environment. I researched into an organisation called the fashion pact which is a coalition of companies in the fashion and textile industry with set goals to combat climate change. As interesting as I found this it left me with questions on the credibility and accountability of their claims and how us as consumers can trust that larger organisations are playing their part. This led me to explore ideas of ‘transparency’, and further research into the work of Iris Van Herpen inspired some photography focused on delicacy, layers and translucency, similar to the ocean. I observed just how much plastic was being used daily in my work environment and was shocked by the amount of consumption that was taking place when there are perfectly reasonable alternatives available. I then used some of these everyday plastic items such as pill packets and cake packaging to create prints which focused on repeats and a muted, ocean-inspired colour scheme. I developed these prints by experimenting with textures, layer, scale, and material manipulation to create some really interesting compositions, photographing throughout to capture every possible combination. The final image I have chosen because of the depth and detail it has, I think that it symbolises how deep the plastic problem is and how the textiles and fashion industry is causing irreversible damage to our oceans and environments. I chose this image over some of my other options because I like the simplistic and muted colour scheme, there are no harsh lines or dark colours which I believe really emulates the concept of transparency and delicacy.