The piece I have chosen is ‘Whale’(2009)  from Running the Numbers II: Portraits of global mass culture (2009-present) by Chris Jordan and the theory that I will be applying to the piece is James Lovelock’s Gaia Hypothesis.

The piece shows 50,000 plastic bags which is equivalent to the amount of plastic floating in the world’s oceans (1). The way in which this piece relates to Gaia Hypothesis is the idea that we need to look after the earth and in return, the earth will look after us; “If we abuse Gaia, we risk our own survival” as “there is only one pollution…people” – Lovelock (2). Animals aren’t the ones producing plastic bags and discarding them in their own habitats. Everything on this earth needs to work together in order for it to function and Lovelock demonstrates this with his hypothetical scenario ‘Daisy World’ whereby black and white daisies work off each other to grow and keep the planet in a constant equilibrium (2).

Sources:

1. http://www.chrisjordan.com/gallery/rtn2/#whale Chris Jordan – Photographic Arts
2. ‘Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth’ – James Lovelock