Swee Hoe Lim is a member of Shutter Hub and won the Best in Show award at the Shutter Hub Open exhibition last year. He is based in Malaysia, and his work often features stunning scenic views, in particular coastal regions, and frequently has something to say about man’s interaction with nature. For this Close Up feature, Swee Hoe takes us through the ideas behind his latest project, Sigh of the Sea…

Every year large amounts of marine debris especially plastics, enter the ocean, where it slowly fragments and accumulates in convergence zones called “gyres”. The biggest gyre which is best known as Great Pacific Garbage Patch is estimated as large as 696,200 km2 (>2x the total size of Malaysia) in the North Pacific Ocean. The impact of marine debris is high and causes environment pollution, endanger to the wildlife and economy losses. It has been estimated that around 80% of marine debris is from land-based sources and the remaining 20% is from ocean based sources.

Malaysia has a long coastline and is well known for its beautiful beaches. With increasing population and rapid development, solid wastes are commonly found on Malaysian beaches as any other parts of the world. The research on impact of marine debris especially non-biodegradable plastic to the oceans is very limited and irregular.

This photo series captured the solid wastes found at the coastline of Peninsular Malaysia. Common among the solid wastes found are consumer items which made up of plastic containers, bottles, metal container and wearable items. “Beautiful Ugly” is the presentation concept of this series. The idea is to capture the audience attention by presenting beautiful photographs of the solid wastes captured along the coastline. Let the ugly (solid wastes) stand out from the photographs and relay the embedded message to the audience.