Isabell Gutowski

The Washed Ashore project was founded in 2010 by Angela Haseltine Pozzi. It is a nonprofit organization that uses sculptures to educate the public about plastic pollution and environmental conservation. Pozzi gives human names to each of her sculptures to personify them.

The first image is of a seal named Lidia created by Pozzi in 2013 as part of this project. Lidia the seal sits on top of buoys, netting, and ropes. Pozzi chose to incorporate these pieces into the sculpture because nets, ropes, and buoys are what harm seals in the ocean. Seals get these tangled around their necks or bodies which often leads to death if not found and treated. This can also be seen in the image with Lidia the seal having a green net wrapped around her neck. By adding these specific details to the sculpture, Pozzi can educate the public about how ropes and netting pollution effects seals and hopefully raise additional awareness on the topic.

The second image is of a rockhopper penguin named Zorabelle. Pozzi created this sculpture in 2015. Zorabelle is created entirely of hard plastics for the body with some softer plastics and zip ties for the hair. Pozzi chose to incorporate these pieces into the sculpture because plastic pollution is harming penguins. Penguins mistake plastic for food. This can cause major damage to the bird because some plastic is indigestible. This plastic will then sit in the penguin’s stomach and prevent it from digesting actual food. Plastic also contains a lot of toxins which can cause health problems for penguins. By adding these specific details to the sculpture, Pozzi can educate the public about how plastic effects penguins and hopefully raise additional awareness on the topic. 

The third image is of a shark named Chompers. Pozzi created this sculpture in 2018. Chompers is made out of hard plastics with seaweed below also made out of hard plastics. Plastic is very harmful to sharks and that is why Possi chose to incorporate it into this sculpture. When sharks eat plastic, it damages their stomach lines, blocks their digestive tracks, and lessens their need to feed because they think they think they are full. This ultimately causes sharks to go hungry. Pozzi also chose to make the seaweed in this sculpture out of plastic due to the fact that there is over 14 million tons of it on the ocean floor. This is just another way Pozzi made her sculpture more accurate to the problems going on from plastic pollution. By adding these specific details to the sculpture, Pozzi can educate the public about how plastic effects sharks and the ocean floor and hopefully raise additional awareness on the topic.

Pozzi’s hope is that people will come together to help clear our oceans and save sea creatures. I hope that in the future plastic pollution will be on the decline and when people see Pozzi’s sculptures they will just see them as inspiration to not go back to the past rather than seeing them as a problem that needs to be fixed.