Children, see what garbage is doing to our seas

The potentially destructive relationship between man and the ocean is explored in Singaporean-born Tan Zi Xi’s Plastic Ocean installation. It draws inspiration from the Great Pacific garbage patch in the North Pacific Ocean where litter such as plastic items pools. Photo: Singapore Art Museum

More than 20,000 pieces of discarded plastic – from water bottles and drinking straws to cling film and plastic bags – have found their way into a gallery at the Singapore Art Museum.

Painstakingly collected, cleaned and artfully composed in a room by artist-illustrator Tan Zi Xi, the immersive installation is meant to evoke in the audience a sense of being submerged in a sea of swirling trash.