PLASTIC BAGS

Each year, an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions end up as litter each year. Europe tries to reduce the use of plastic bags until 2025 down to 40 plastic bags a year per person. Today about 450 plastic bags are used in Bulgaria and for example about 90 in Germany per person each year. Worldwide, countries and cities are trying and going to ban the plastic bags now or establish a fee. Suddenly 5-20 ¢ a plastic bags costs in shops, it’s a self-determination here in Europe but it’s going to be a law sooner or later. In Europe now, the shops can choose how much a plastic bag should cost.

Every day as I walk on the streets I see hundreds of plastic bags scattered across places, blown by the wind. They do not impress anyone. There are always ongoing campaigns that raise the public’s awareness about the problem, but they are still around and don’t seem to go away. Instead of turning a blind eye on them I wanted to accentuate. I felt the urge to photograph them, to put them out of their utilitarian function and transforming entirely into an object of art. I’ve always wanted to challenge the perception of everyday objects and details around us. Thus in the viewer’s mind the plastic bags are no longer associated with shopping, for example, but with other objects, with various forms or with the light in the different stages of the day. I photograph only found plactic bags, which I do not direct but take out from the context just by choosing the angle and the light of the shot.

The Plastic bag project is an ongoing work in progress.