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This is Sian Ka'an.

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Just south of Tulum[br]on Mexico's Caribbean coast,

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it's a federally protected reserve,

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a UNESCO World Heritage Site

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and one of the most biodiverse[br]regions on the planet.

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But when I first visited in 2010,

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I was horrified and completely confused

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as to why the beach was covered in trash.

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I soon realized that it was floating in[br]from all over the world.

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I've since returned,[br]after that first journey,

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several times a year

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to visit Sian Ka'an,[br]to the country of my birth,

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to work with this trash.

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And so far,

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we've documented garbage from[br]58 different countries and territories

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on six continents,

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all washing ashore[br]in this paradise in Mexico.

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Although I can never know[br]where a product was dropped,

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I can, at times, based on the label,[br]know where something was made.

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In red, you see all of the countries[br]represented by their trash

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in Sian Ka'an,

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such as these Haitian butter containers[br]in all shapes and sizes,

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Jamaican water bottles.

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Not surprisingly, a lot of the stuff[br]is from neighboring Caribbean countries,

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but the stuff is from everywhere.

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Here's a sampling[br]of international water bottles.

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And one of the ironies is that[br]a lot of what I'm finding

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are products for cleaning[br]and beautification,

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such as this item from the United States,

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which is actually made[br]to protect your plastic,

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(Laughter)

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shampoo from South Korea,

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bleach from Costa Rica

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and a Norwegian toilet cleaner.

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And it's items that are all[br]very familiar to us,

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or at least I hope you're familiar[br]with these toothbrushes.

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(Laughter)

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Kitchen utensils.

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Toys.

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I'm also finding evidence[br]of burning plastic trash,

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which releases cancer-causing[br]fumes into the air.

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People ask what's the most[br]interesting item that I've found,

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and that's by far this prosthetic leg.

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And in the background, if you can see[br]that blue little bottle cap,

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at the time that I found it,

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it was actually the home[br]to this little hermit crab.

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This guy is so cute.

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(Laughter)

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(Laughter)

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And it's these fascinating objects,

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but also horrifying objects,

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each with their own history,

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that I use to make my ephemeral[br]environmental artworks.

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And it all started with this image[br]in February of 2010,

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when I first visited Sian Ka'an.

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I noticed that blue was the most[br]prevalent color among the plastic.

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Purple is actually the most rare color.[br]It's kind of like gold to me.

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But blue is the most prevalent,

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and so I gathered some of the blues

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and made this little arrangement[br]in front of the blue sky

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and blue Caribbean waters.

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And when I took a photograph[br]and looked at the test shot,

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it was like a lightning bolt[br]hit me in that moment,

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and I knew I was going[br]to have to come back

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to create a whole series[br]of installations on location

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and photograph them.

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So this turned out to be a sketch

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for a work that I completed[br]three years later.

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I had no idea that almost 10 years later,

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almost a decade later,[br]I'd still be working on it.

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But the problem persists.

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So I'm going to show you[br]some of the images

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from the series that I called "Washed Up:[br]Transforming a Trashed Landscape."

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Please keep in mind that[br]I do not paint the garbage.

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I'm collecting it[br]and organizing it by color

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on the same beaches where I find it.

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This is my precious trash pile[br]as seen in 2015

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after putting on a first edition[br]of the "Museo de la Basura,"

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or "Museum of Garbage."

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It's fully my intention[br]to care for this garbage,

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to exalt it,

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put it on a pedestal

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and to curate it.

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We have all seen devastating images

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of animals dying[br]with plastic in their bellies.

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And it's so important for us[br]to really see those

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and to take those in.

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But it's by making aesthetic --[br]some might say beautiful -- arrangements

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out of the world's waste,

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that I'm trying to hook the viewer

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to draw in those that might be numb[br]to the horrors of the world

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and give them a different way[br]to understand what's happening.

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Some have described[br]the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

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as an island twice the size of Texas,

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but I've been told that it's hard to see

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because it's more like a smog.

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So through my artwork,

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I attempt to depict the reality[br]of what's happening with our environment

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and to make the invisible visible.

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My key question at first,[br]after starting the project,

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was, "What do I do[br]with the garbage when I'm done?"

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I was told by some[br]that it could be damaged goods

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after traveling across the ocean[br]and being exposed to the elements,

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that it could become degraded[br]and potentially ruin a batch of recycling.

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The landfill was not[br]a happy resting place, either.

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And then finally, it dawned on me,

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after all of the effort by me[br]and all of the people who have helped me

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collect and organize and clean this trash,

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that I should keep it.

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And so that's the plan,

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to use it and to reuse it endlessly

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to make more artwork

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and to engage communities[br]in environmental art-making.

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This is an example of a community-based[br]artwork that we did last year

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with the local youth[br]of Punta Allen in Sian Ka'an.

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A key part of the community work[br]are the beach cleans

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and education programming.

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And as this community[br]around the project grows

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and as my trash collection grows,

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I really believe that[br]the impact will as well.

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And so, over the years,

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I've become a little obsessed[br]with my trash collection.

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I pack it into suitcases[br]and travel with it.

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I take it on vacation with me.

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(Laughter)

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And in the latest work,

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I've begun to break the two-dimensional[br]plane of the photograph.

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I'm really excited about this new work.

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I see these as living artworks

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that will morph and grow over time.

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Although my greatest wish[br]is that I run out of the raw material

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for this work,

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we're not there yet.

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So in the next phase of the project,

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I plan on continuing the community work

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and making my own work[br]at a much larger scale,

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because the problem is massive.

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Eight million tons of plastic waste[br]enter our oceans every year,

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destroying ecosystems.

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Right now, as I speak, there's literally[br]an oil spill of plastic happening.

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I see this project as a plea for help[br]and a call to action.

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Our health and future[br]is inextricably linked

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to that of our oceans.

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I call the project "Washed Up:[br]Transforming a Trashed Landscape,"

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but it's actually transformed me

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and made me rethink[br]my own behaviors and consumption.

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And if it can help anybody else[br]gain more awareness,

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then it will have been worthwhile.

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Thank you so much.

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(Applause)