A few years ago I had the luxury of spending the month of December in the quiet beach town of Emerald Isle on the North Carolina coast. To my surprise, the winter storms tossed an unimaginable amount of trash on the beach in front of my rented oceanfront duplex. I started collecting debris on my morning walks (we all want clean beaches, right?), and after a few days I realized there was a photo story there waiting to be told. After 30 days of filling IKEA bags with found objects, I hatched my plan. On my last day at the shore I would curate my shoot. But that day came and yet another winter storm was brewing leaving it too windy and rainy to stage a photo shoot directly on the beach. So instead I moved everything, and I mean everything including sand and debris and tires, to my brothers driveway about a mile inland. You should’ve seen his reaction...He had no idea what to make of my nutty idea but soon got on board with sorting trash to help me.
You can interpret these as fun art or you can see it as a reminder of how much garbage ends up in our oceans. It was sad and gross, but also funny and curious thinking about where all these things came from. Who threw that tire in the ocean? How sad was the little girl when she lost her goggles? Why bring a giraffe to the beach? What kind of beverage did that piece of green sea glass once hold? Trash or treasure, I’ll let you decide!
P.S. I recently received a text message from my brother showing a photo of the giraffe, which suspiciously got left behind in his garage years ago. It's found its new forever home.
DIMENSIONS
All dimensions are listed in Width (W) x Height (H) and measured in inches
Print Only Dimensions
20" W x 20" H
24" W x 24" H
30" W x 30" H
40" W x 40" H
Print and Frame Dimensions
Print 20" W x 20" H | Frame Interior 20" W x 20" H | Frame Exterior 20.625" W x 20.625" H x 1.5" D
Print 24" W x 24" H | Frame Interior 24" W x 24" H | Frame Exterior 24.75" W x 24.75" H x 1.75" D
Print 30" W x 30" H | Frame Interior 30" W x 30" H | Frame Exterior 30.75" W x 30.75" H x 1.75" D
Print 40" W x 40" H | Frame Interior 40" W x 40" H | Frame Exterior 41.0" W x 41.0" H x 2.25" D
PRINTING AND MOUNTING DETAILS
Full Bleed – All images are printed to the edge of the paper so there is no border.
Canson Baryta Paper – Heavy, pure white paper with a satin surface that mimics darkroom photo paper.
Cold Mounted to Gator Board – Art is permanently affixed to rigid, lightweight gator board surface.
99% UV Acrylic – Protects art from 99% of UV rays which is recommended if art will be hung in a bright area to prevent fading.
Spacers – Matching wood spacers to ensure alignment.
D-Ring Hanging Hardware – Two D-rings, attached to the back of the frame to be used with wall hooks provide a secure hold (20 x 20 | 24 x 24 | 30 x 30 sizes).
Cleat Hanging Hardware – Interlocking wood cleats, mounted on the frame and your hanging surface provide a secure hold (40 x 40 size).