Plastic pollution is a modern environmental plague. Cheap to produce and versatile, plastic is pervasive in our daily lives. Our overuse and failure to recycle plastic has led to a worldwide crisis. Microplastics ingested by fish are now showing up in our food and in our bodies.
Ironically, a method of cooking called “sous vide” has become extremely popular in our kitchens and may be contributing to the plastic problem. Sous vide refers to the process of vacuum-sealing food in a plastic bag and then cooking it at low temperature in a water bath. While deemed safe by most, the process is under scrutiny by scientists who raise concerns about the possibility that the technique may be hazardous because plastic could leach from the bags into the food during cooking.
The photographs in this project attempt to put in perspective this incongruous reality: while we strive to save our oceans’ life from plastic pollution, we are adopting a way of cooking our food with the very material that causes our crisis.
Each image features a fish or a crustacean that I vacuum-sealed in a textured plastic bag.
After photographing each subject, I created repetitive patterns with bold strokes in the background to recontextualize the creatures in an environment that alludes to the pollution of their ocean home. Whether left to roam free or captured and cooked using sous vide, the creatures face an inescapable plasticky fate.”