Image: The Citarum River
The Citarum River in the Philippines is one of the most polluted rivers in the world. Many fishermen who once earned their money fishing here have now instead become garbage collectors. In this state, can the Citarum River can still be considered a river, or even nature at all? There is an absurdity to this image, images of kayakers usually depict them paddling across clear blue water, but here, the water more closely resembles a garbage dump, the increase of waste materials in the environment often creates strange nature/plastic hybrids which visually, and almost comedically demonstrate the absurd ecological reality we are faced with.
The Citarum River is not only filled with microscopic plastics but large, visible plastic waste, it becomes a kind of soup of plastics, a visible archive of human consumption. If we imagine our garbage as a collective art project, the river has become an art museum, but not harmlessly since many people are still reliant on the Citarum River for drinking water and agriculture.