The Sian Ka’an, an ecological preserve near Tulum, Mexico, is a beautiful peninsula in the Carribean Sea. The name Sian Ka’an means, “Where The Sky Is Born,” and is the first established Biosphere Reserve in Mexico. Currently, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site and remains a high priority of protection for the state of Mexico.
As the third largest protected area in Mexico, the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve comprises 1.3 million acres. Consisting of sea level tropical forest, mangroves, and a portion of the world’s second largest coastal barrier reef, the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the Reserve is home to 800 plant species and provides habitat for 350 species of birds, as well as jaguar, puma, ocelot, spider and howler monkeys, crocodiles, and many types of turtles. Additionally, the Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve is home to 23 different archaeological sites of pre-Columbian culture.
To get here, you must have a vehicle that can handle the washboard dirt road conditions and be prepared to drive slowly. The roads are narrow and single lane, so passing must be done with caution. Along with washboard roads and other vehicles, you should also watch out for crab, crocodile and turtle crossings along with bikers and tourists taking pictures. It’s a slow drive, but the area is wild and beautiful in spite of the large amount of trash that continually washes up.
It is a beautiful area where a few locals live that manage to make a living from tourism, mostly in the hotel management business, and fishing. The people who live there, live as ecologically friendly as possible, by using wind turbines and generators for electricity, and building from the natural materials in the area.
However, the amount of trash that washes in each day is something the locals and tourists have to contend with. In front of hotels, where the beaches are groomed each day, the trash is cleaned regularly. But when you venture onto a stretch of beach where there are not any hotels, and the beaches are not groomed, the trash is abundant and heart breaking. Some of it may be from littering, but the majority of it washes in daily. There are currently not any organizations that have taken on beach clean ups in this area, so the trash accumulates quickly.
Alejandro Duran, a Mexican born, New York based artist, has managed to take the trash that washes in to the Sian Ka’an, and blend it into the beautiful landscape. In his project, Washed Up, Durán creates photo series of a new form of colonization by consumerism, where even undeveloped land is not safe from the far reaching impact of our disposable culture. Washed Up speaks to the vast quantity of discarded materials in our every day lives and seeks to raise awareness to consumption and waste.
Alejandro’s exhibit inspires the use of reusable shopping bags and stainless steel water bottles in a world where waste is every where. He inspires and challenges us to make recycling and reusing a beautiful habit.
That is fascinating to me how some islands or beach shores fall in the path of certain ocean currents which drag pollution into a particular area. It is tragic that such tropical paradises fall victim to the carelessness of man. If only people would individually decide to do their part and put garbage into a waste disposal container, there would be no pollution in the world. I think there are solutions to cleaning up polluted areas. They just need to be spearheaded by people who care enough to make it their cause.
Hi Stanley, Thank you for your insightful remarks. It is a shame that our trash is finding it’s way into our river systems and ultimately the ocean…and then washing back up on pristine shores where it is painfully evident the amount of waste we produce. This is why products that are reusable, recyclable and bio-degradable are so much better for our world.
These were some amazing photos that he has done, I never would have thought that trash could become art but he certainly has made it that way. This does speak volumes to the reason we should use re-usable shopping bags though doesn’t it. This was a very interesting blog and I thank you for sharing it with us. I hope that his art will get the message across to people to recycle.
Thank you for your kind words Jose. Alejandro Duran is truly a talented artist. Another great artist out there is Virginia Fleck. She creates beautiful mandalas out of plastic bags that are amazing!
This was very interesting and unfortunate at the same time. Some of the pictures that are out there are really kind of neat, but the fact that there is so much trash out there that gives him this capability is really rather sad. I hope that this will get the message out there to people showing them that this is ridiculous and it really needs to stop.
This was a very creative blog and some of the art was really pretty but when you think about what is in it then you realize just how much it took to make something like that and that is really sad. We have to do something about all the trash. What ever happened to burning your trash? If you could figure out a way to do a clean burn so there is no pollution.
Hi Ester, Thank you so much for your comments! More thorough clean up campaigns with better recycling capabilities will help tremendously. The best solution for our planet is to reduce consumption of so much waste so that there is less to recycle and dump into landfills, but concentrating on recycling technologies in our schools will promote a cleaner environment for future generations.
This is almost like an uncharted island in that it is not a well known island, but it seems like an ideal tropical paradise – other than the garbage that gets washed up to the shore. Perhaps the officials of the area should think outside the box and establish a system so that local artists and crafts makers can clean up the shore lines and use the plastic trash to either recycle or as material for works of art.