TV and radio
A visual journey into the Pacific Ocean – and into the heart of an environmental tragedy.
Albatross ONLINE Available for screenings from 22 April and to stream from 8 June: www.albatrossthefilm.com The albatross is lauded as the ‘most legendary’ of birds, but it seems this iconic ocean wanderer is now more an emblem of a mega-problem of our age: plastic pollution.
The plight of the Laysan albatross chicks on the Pacific atoll of Midway – dying in their thousands as a result of plastic ingestion – was brought to wider attention in 2009 by artist Chris Jordan, who photographed their young bodies decaying around miniature middens of flotsam discarded from modern life.
“I never expected my photos to have the impact they did,” says Chris. “But they had a hopelessness about them, so much so that I felt the need to explore the story more deeply.” Chris made a further seven trips to Midway over the next three years, following the birds through every stage of their life-cycle. The sum of those efforts is this 96-minute documentary.
“The first time I visited Midway, the adult birds were at sea and I was greeted with this silent graveyard,” recalls Chris. “But on my return, I was met with a cacophony of noise and the incredible smell of thousands of birds. It had a profound effect on me, getting me thinking about opposites in balance – the juxtaposition of the birds’ beauty with their horrible suffering; the idea of Midway as both paradise and hell."
Albatross is not your typical environmental documentary. There are no interviews, no elaborate graphics, no science. Rather, it is a piece of art – a slow, lyrical portrait of the life and death of a magnificent seabird – that uses symbolism in place of reprimand and instruction over coffee cups and carrier bags. For Chris, this is a far more powerful tool when it comes to engaging a shift in consciousness.
The layers run deep: the albatross is known in literature and poetry as a harbinger of shifting fortunes, while plastic has a “sterility and immortality” about it that reflects something of modern life. Even the name of the island is meaningful: humanity is, Chris believes, mid-way to its own destruction.
Albatross is a stark reminder of the consequences of our collective choices, and of current predictions that the oceans will hold more plastic than fish by 2050. “I want people to feel the anxiety and sadness,” says Chris. “Because only then will they reconsider their lives and act decisively.” Sarah McPherson
THE FIRST TIME I VISITED MIDWAY I WAS GREETED WITH THIS SILENT GRAVEYARD.”