One of my underwater gannet images which was Highly Commended in the GDT competition in 2013 has been turned into a painting by Australian artist Katherine Cooper. Katherine has been collaborating with other artists and marine scientists from the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies in Hobart, Tasmania with whom I was also fortunate enough to dive last year – see A Changing World.

The project, called Vanishing Point has been inspired by many of Katherine’s travels including a meeting with UK photographer and film maker Raymond Besant in Shetland where he highlighted the impact of plastic ingestion on UK seabirds. You can read more about the project by clicking here to download the Exhibition Catalogue or visit the Facebook page or the Project Website. If you happen to be passing through Hobart, the exhibition is open until mid-July.

The little red Samurai in the painting and other works in the exhibition was taken from the stomach of a Laysan Albatross, Midway Atoll in the very centre of the Pacific Ocean. A sobering thought that our wasted plastic reaches so far.