Washed Up: Transforming a Trashed Landscape is an environmental installation and photography project that transforms the international debris washing up on Mexico’s Caribbean coast into aesthetic yet disquieting works.

Over the course of this project, Durán has identified plastic waste from fifty-eight nations and territories on six continents that have washed ashore along the coast of Sian Ka’an, one of Mexico’s largest federally-protected nature reserves and a UNESCO World Heritage site. He uses this international debris to create color-based, site-specific sculptures that conflate the hand of man and nature. At times, he distributes objects the way the waves would; other times, the plastic mimics algae, roots, rivers, or fruit, reflecting the infiltration of plastics into the natural environment.

More than creating a surreal or fantastical landscape, these installations mirror the reality of our current environmental predicament. 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 lifestyle. The alchemy of Washed Up lies not only in transforming a trashed landscape, but in the project’s potential to raise awareness and change our relationship to consumption and waste.

Derrame (Spill), 2010

Plastiflor, 2011

Nubes (Clouds), 2011

Vena (Vein), 2011

Espuma (Foam), 2011

Algas (Algae), 2013

Atardecer (Sunset), 2013

Bombillas (Bulbs), 2013

Brotes (Shoots), 2014

Mar (Sea), 2013

Community La Tierra Punta Allen 2018

“Mar” installation, Art With Me Tulum, Mexico 2018

“Vena” at the Inter-American Development Bank 2019

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All images copyright and courtesy of Alejandro Durán

Art, Creativity, Ecology, Environment, Sculpture, Water