Mandy Barker is an international award-winning photographer whose work involving marine plastic debris over the past 10 years has received global recognition. Working with scientists she aims to raise awareness about plastic pollution in the world’s oceans whilst highlighting the harmful affect on marine life and ultimately ourselves.
MANDY BARKER
- All
- Indefinite
- Shoal
- Soup
- Hong Kong Soup 1826
- Penalty
- Beyond Drifting Imperfectly Known Aminals
- Lunsea
Indefinite
Indefinite
Indefinite
Indefinite
Indefinite
Indefinite
Indefinite
Hong Kong Soup 1826
Hong Kong Soup 1826
Hong Kong Soup 1826
Hong Kong Soup 1826
Hong Kong Soup 1826
Beyond Drifting Imperfectly Known Aminals
Beyond Drifting Imperfectly Known Aminals
Beyond Drifting Imperfectly Known Aminals
Beyond Drifting Imperfectly Known Aminals
Beyond Drifting Imperfectly Known Aminals
Beyond Drifting Imperfectly Known Aminals
Beyond Drifting Imperfectly Known Aminals
Mandy Barker is an international award-winning artist whose work involving marine plastic debris has received global recognition for over a decade. Often collaborating with scientists, Barker aims to raise awareness about plastic pollution in the world’s oceans whilst highlighting the harmful effect on marine life and ultimately ourselves.
Barker took part in the ‘Henderson Island Plastic Pollution Expedition’ in June 2019 – this significant expedition included recording data as well as photographing marine plastic pollution, the work has now become part of archives, accessible to other modern day explorers and scholars. The expedition was awarded an ‘Explorers Club Flag Expedition’. Only 3 – 5 expeditions per year are recognised in this way – previous others include the Apollo 11 Space Mission, and the dive to Challenger Deep.
Barker also collaborated in 2019 with Stanford University and launched the virtual reality experience, Ripple: the unintended life of plastics in the sea, collaborating with Stanford’s Communication Programme in Journalism.
Her first book Beyond Drifting: Imperfectly Known Animals was selected as one of the Ten Best Photography Books of 2017, by Smithsonian, and her second book, Altered Ocean was chosen by The Royal Photographic Society as the top 10 Photo books of 2019. Barker is a recipient of the 2018 National Geographic Society Grant for Research and Exploration.
Mandy Barker has been published in over 40 different countries including; National Geographic Magazine, TIME Magazine, The Guardian, The Financial Times, Smithsonian, The New Scientist, The Explorer’s Journal, UNESCO, The British Journal of Photography, FOAM Magazine, VOGUE, Wired, The RPS Journal, World Wildlife Fund, and also been used to illustrate key scientific research papers on microplastics. She was shortlisted for the Prix Pictet Award SPACE in 2017, also nominated for the Magnum Foundation Fund and Deutsche Borse Foundation Photography Prize 2020.
Barker has been invited as a guest speaker at many international events including, the National Geographic Photography Seminar 2018 in Washington DC, and as the opening keynote speaker for the Euro Conference for Global Capital Sustainable & Responsible Capital Markets Forum in Amsterdam.
She was invited by Greenpeace in 2017, to join the Beluga II Expedition which sailed around remote and unique island locations of the Inner Hebrides, Scotland, to recover plastic debris.
EXHIBITIONS
2022 – 2023
Plastic Soup, National Trust Fox Talbot Museum, Lacock Abbey
2022
Planet or Plastic National Geographic, David Brower Center in Berkeley, California USA
Penalty, Museo del Patrimonio Municipal, Malaga
Shelf-Life, Auckland Memorial Museum, NZ
Invasion of the Seas, Suaparanta, Goa Centre for the Arts, IN
2021
Broken Nature’ MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) New York, USA
Anthropocene – Save Our Planet Daegu Beom-Eo Art Street (Beom-Eo Station) South Korea
‘Planet or Plastic’ National Geographic, Nauticus (National Maritime Center) Norfolk, VA, USA
‘CIVILISATION The Way We Live Now’ Musée des Civilisations de l’Europe – MuCEM, Marseille, FR
‘Planet or Plastic’ National Geographic, Art Science Museum, Singapore
‘Anthropocene – Save Our Planet’ Korean Cultural Center, Rue de la Régence 4, Bruxelles, BE
‘NET – Mandy Barker & CNR Institute of Marine Science’, D3082 Woman Art Venice, Venice, IT
2020
‘NET – Mandy Barker & CNR Institute of Marine Science’, D3082 Woman Art Venice, Venice, IT
‘Everywhere: Life in a Littered World’, Plymouth University
‘EFFECT – De La Micro La Macro’ Science Festival, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
‘Anthropocene – Save Our Planet’ Photo Brussels Festival PBF
‘Planet or Plastic’ Telli Gallery, 250 Dostyk Avenue, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Athens Photo Festival 2020, Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece
Anthropocene – Save Our Planet’ Busan International Photo Festival, Gecheong Shipyard, Busan, Korea
Art Science Museum, ‘Planet or Plastic’ Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
‘Les Femmes S’Exposent Festival’ Houlgate, FR
‘Our Plastic Ocean’ virtual exhibition Brighton Museum, Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton, UK
‘Beyond Drifting’, Castel Stenico & the Adamello Brenta National Park, Italy
‘Not In My Planet’ Castel Beseno, Trento, Italy
‘Our Plastic Ocean’ 20:21 Visual Arts, Lincolnshire, UK
50 Artists 50 Photographers, Fotografiska Open Air Exhibition, Stockholm, Sweden
Winter Garden Photograph Project exhibition, Houston Center of Photography, USA)
‘Planet or Plastic’, Museon, The Hague, Netherlands
‘Our Plastic Ocean’ 20:21 Visual Arts, Scunthorpe, UK
‘Indefinite’ NHS Foundation Trust – Royal United Hospitals Bath, UK
‘Civilisation: The Way We Live Now’ Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, NZ
Planet or Plastic’ National Geographic travelling exhibition – Melbourne Zoo, Melbourne, AU
‘Altered Ocean’ Leeds International Festival, Leeds, UK,
‘Les Femmes S’Exposent Festival’ Houlgate, FR
‘Sea of Artifacts’ Fotografiska, Tallinn, Estonia,
‘Ending Ocean Plastic through the Lens of Change’ Miami Super Bowl 2020, Miami, Florida United States
‘Contaminazioni’ Regione Lombardia, Milan, Italy
‘Our Plastic Ocean’ Waterside, Sale, Manchester, UK
‘Not on my Planet’ Castello del Buonconsiglio, Trento, Italy
‘Herbarios imaginados – Between Science and Art’ Centro de Arte Complutense, Madrid, SP
‘A History of Photography: Daguerreotype to Digital’, The Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
2019
‘Ripple: the unintended life of plastics in the sea’, Virtual reality experience, Stanford Univerity, CA, USA Shanghai Centre of Photography, Peer to Peer, China
National Geographic Aveiro Exodux Festival Porto, Portugal
Fotografiska – Tallinn ‘Sea of Artifacts’, Estonia
Lishui Biannual Photography Exhibition, LSPF, Lishui, China
‘Ocean Obscura’ – Fotografiska, Stockholm, Sweden
‘Les Femmes S’Exposent Festival’ Houlgate, France
‘Civilisation: The Way We Live Now’, Group exhibition, NGV Melbourne Australia,
Ballarat International Foto Biennale, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
Museu Vida Rural – Museum of Rural life, Carulla Foundation, Espluga de Francoli, Catalonia, Spain
‘Football is Art’ National Football Museum, Manchester, England, UK
‘Peer to Peer’ LOOK Photo Biennial, St George’s Hall, Liverpool, England, UK
Fete de la Science, Château de Voltaire à Fervey, France
‘Stories on Earthly Survival’ , The Portuguese Centre of Photography, Porto Biennale 2019, Portugal
Guernsey Photographic Festival 2019, Guernsey, UK
‘Planet of Plastic’, Camera Deputati (Italian Parliament) & Complesso di Vicolo Valdina, Rome, Italy Roma Palazzo Montecitorio ‘Planet or Plastic , Rome Italy
Roma MAXXI ‘ Planet of Plastic, Rome, Italy
Impressions Gallery, Bradford, UK
Fotografiska- Stockholm, ‘Sea of Artifacts’ , Sweden
‘Civilisation: The Way We Live Now’, UCCA Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China
XXII Triennale di Milano, ‘Broken Nature: Design Takes On Human Survival’, Foundazione La Triennale di Milano, IT
Planet or Plastic’ United Nations Visitor’s Centre, New York, USA
The Royal Photographic Society House (first solo exhibition presented at the RPS), Bristol, UK
Sopa De Plastico – Avda. da Marina, Festival De Mares, Sada, Spain
Auditorium Parco della Musica di Roma, Foyer Sinopoli, Rome, Italy
Complesso monumentale, Santa Maria della Vita, Bologna, Italy
‘Not on my Planet’, Science Museum Trento – Museo della Scienza (MUSE) Trento, Italy
‘Plastic Fantastic’, Group exhibition, Corn Exchange, Leeds, England, UK
Prix Pictet SPACE – Group exhibition, Gallery of Photography Ireland, Dublin, Ireland
2018
The Victoria & Albert Museum, London ‘A History of Photography: Daguerreotype to Digital’ (Oct 2018 – Sept 2020), UK
‘Civilisation: The Way We Live Now’ Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, Seoul, S. Korea
‘Window on the World – 130 Years of National Geographic’ Fundacion Telefonica, Madrid, Spain
Beyond Drifting; imperfectly known animals, Breda Photo Festival, NL
See Beyond the Sea, Palazzo Palmieri Palace, PhEST , Monopoli, IT
A Celebration Dos Oceanos, Mar De Mares Festival, A Coruna, SP
Naiman International Photography Festival, Inner Mongolia, CH
Hong Kong Soup:1826, Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art Northern Quarter, Manchester, UK
Photo London, presented by East Wing, Somerset House, London, UK
Beyond Drifting; imperfectly known animals / SOUP, Lodz Fotofestiwal, PL
Beyond Drifting; imperfectly known animals / Soup, [ENTER], Triennial of Photography, Hamburg, DE
Photofairs: San Francisco, Solo presentation with East Wing – California, USA
Darmstadter Tage der Fotografie. 10. “Perspectives – Photographic Action Strategies’ Darmstadt, DE
SHOAL, The Royal Photographic Society, NEC Birmingham, UK
PLASTIC SEA – solo exhibition East Wing, Dubai, UAE
SPACE, Prix Pictet : Flowers Gallery, New York | Global Karaköy, Istanbul, TK | Art Lab Lausanne, CH
Camera Gallery – Turin, IT| Foundation CAB, Brussels | Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City, MX
House of Economy, Stuttgart, DE | Mouravieff-Apostol House & Museum, Moscow, RU
2017
Studioscape (with Maija Tammi), Landskrona Photography Festival SE
Getxo Photo Festival, SP
SOUP, San Francisco International Airport,Terminal 1, , Departures Level San Francisco, California, USA
f2 Fotofestival Dortmund Germany “What are limits”
United Nations Headquarters, presented by the German Government Environment Mission – New York, USA
‘Guardians I Plastic: Fossil to Fossil’ – Noorderlicht Natuurmuseum Fryslan, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands
Beyond Drifting: Imperfectly Known Animals, Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh, Cork Ireland
FORMAT Photography Festival, ‘HABITAT’ - Derby, UK
The Deep Hull 2017 – UK City of Culture
INSTALLATIONS
2020
‘Sea of Artifacts’ – Fotografiska, Tallinn, Estonia
2019
‘Sea of Artifacts’ – Fotografiska, Stockholm, SE