Trash can be beautiful, the artist Alejandro Durán proved it.

Working along a single stretch of coastline in Sian Ka’an, Mexico’s largest federally-protected reserve, the artist has collected countless bits of trash that washed up from locations around the world. Indeed, he’s discovered plastic debris from fifty countries, from six continents on this shore of the Caribbean Coast, which he used for site-specific installations for a project aptly titled “Washed Up”.

By creating aesthetically pleasing landscapes from a disheartening medium, Alejandro Durán wants to draw attention to the global catastrophe of ocean pollution and change our relationship to consumption and waste.

« The resulting photo series depicts a new form of colonization by consumerism, where even undeveloped land is not safe from the far-reaching impact of our disposable culture. »