The Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) has collaborated with local visual artist, Ernest Goh, to raise awareness on how plastic waste affects marine life in the wild.

Coined as the Ayer Ayer Project ("Ayer" means "water" in Malay), Goh has created a table full of debris, also known as a shore debris table, to illustrate the state of plastic pollution in the sea.

What's interesting about the table is that it is shaped like the Punggol beach coastline, made with driftwood and debris collected from Punggol beach.

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Table shaped like Punggol beach coastline

Goh was inspired to start the Ayer Ayer project after experiencing and seeing a tremendous amount of pollution even in Singapore, which has earned a reputation for being "clean and green".

He said:

"I wanted to share that experience through an artwork about ocean plastic pollution and bring more attention to the issue. The table is in the shape of Punggol beach coastline. That is my research site and where all the debris on the Shore Debris Table artwork are collected is from."

"When we were conducting the beach clean-up, we witness a couple with their wedding photographer throwing plastic confetti in the air for their photography session. Once done, they simply walked away, leaving behind a bed of plastic confetti strewn across a section of Punggol beach."

"Till today, I'm still not sure if they simply didn't care about littering on the beach or thought that sea and tides have a natural waste management system that would make all their confetti disappear."

As part of his research, Goh had to collect the debris samples and document the microplastics he found at Punggol Beach.

Besides microplastic, other common litter on the shoreline were cigarette butts and bottle caps.

In total, he had done four beach clean-up sessions with his team and volunteers from the public to fill the table up.

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While that's definitely not enough to clean up Singapore's shores, Goh's Ayer Ayer project can perhaps achieve much more in the long run by educating more people about the importance of keeping the environment clean.

Bon Appétit?

At the shore debris table, dining plates and tweezers are placed on it and participants will use them to remove microplastic debris from the sand.

After all, microplastic bits are making their way into our food and the exhibit is about the urgent need to tackle plastic wastes.

Participants can also use the tiny microplastic particles that they picked up to create art pieces using their imagination.

Goh shared that some members of the public expressed astonishment at the amount of microplastic that they saw on the shore debris table and wanted to do something to manage their own plastic wastes.

Interestingly, there were also some who thought that Goh's team cut the plastic waste into bits deliberately just to provoke a response from participants.

However, these doubts or scepticism from participants did not deter Goh from continuing his outreach through art.

The mixed responses go to show that Goh's work is important to connect people to the waste they produce so as to propel them to reflect and act.

"I feel the table provokes such a wide range of responses because most of us have little or no relationship with our trash or waste. It is something I always talk about when it comes to this artwork. If we don't get to know our waste better -- meaning to understand what it is made of, how to properly dispose of it and how to generate less of it -- we will never be able to solve our waste pollution problem."

The shore debris table will be placed at the Jurong Bird Park and Singapore Zoo till Oct. 31, 2019, along with other art installations as part of the Fight the Deadliest Monster campaign.

Entry to the two attractions will be free for children with every paying adult.

Top photo collage from Ernest Goh's Instagram and courtesy of WRS