In Pics: South African Creates Most Terrifying Monsters of The Deep!

Photo Cred: Graeme van Jaarsveld

Because art can be used as a tool to help create and influence change… and this art is taking on the war against plastic!

Johannesburg, South Africa (30 July 2022) – A South African has created powerful graphics showcasing the most terrifying monsters of the deep… plastic.

Graeme van Jaarsveld, the Senior Art Director at BBDO Germany, created the collection to bring awareness about the devastation taking place in our oceans.

“It’s about getting a hard-hitting message out there that this is the reality right now. Art can be used as a tool to help create and influence change!”

And his powerful images are sending a strong message to the world.

In the first decade of this century, humans made more plastic than all the plastic in history up to the year 2000. And every year, billions of kilograms of more plastic end up in the world’s oceans. Studies estimate there are now 15–51 trillion pieces of plastic in the world’s oceans – from the equator to the poles, from Arctic ice sheets to the sea floor.

But how do we end this?

National Geographic says that once in the ocean, it is difficult – if not impossible – to retrieve plastic waste. Beach clean-ups and mechanical systems like “Mr Trash Wheel” can be effective at picking up large pieces of plastic, such as foam cups and food containers, from inland waters. But once plastics break down into microplastics and drift throughout the water column in the open ocean, they are virtually impossible to recover.

“The solution is to prevent plastic waste from entering rivers and seas in the first place, many scientists and conservationists say. This could be accomplished with improved waste management systems and recycling, better product design that takes into account the short life of disposable packaging, and a reduction in the manufacturing of unnecessary single-use plastics.”

So get involved with beach clean-ups and, more than anything, reduce, reuse and recycle as much as possible!