Bildhalle Amsterdam has the pleasure of hosting a book signing and exhibition of its newly represented artist: Thirza Schaap. Wandering along the beach, Schaap finds plastic that has washed ashore and once she finds herself in her atelier, she transforms it into beautiful sculptures. By photographing these sculptures, she tries to evoke an emotional response from the public by creating a contradiction. A clash between the initial aesthetic appeal and after a second look: repulsion and the realization of the tragedy that waste causes. This project has led to the creation of a book called Plastic Ocean which is published by 1605 Publishers. On June 5, a book signing will take place which is combined with an exhibition at Bildhalle that lasts until June 13.

“As a child I would walk over beaches and through fields and forests to collect beautiful shells, shimmering stones, feathers and funnily shaped branches. Much later, when spending more time on the beaches all over the world, I found myself doing the same thing. Only to discover that I started filling my pockets with trash instead of treasure. Simply documenting the washed up, eroded plastic findings wasn’t doing justice to the beauty of their colors and textures. So, I decided to take the objects in my studio, to isolate them in front of a colorful background. This way, I separated them from any reference to their original environment, so that they became stand-alone objects; the basis of my compositions.

Plastic from the Ocean. Colorful and beautiful in its own tragic way. Plastic Ocean is a project which I started to create awareness around pollution, to try and prevent – or at least reduce – the use of plastic.”

Thirza Schaap