Barry Rosenthal has put together a series called 'Found in Nature', which features carefully sorted and arranged bits of everyday trash found on American coastal areas in Brooklyn, Queens and New Jersey.
Trash is what we'd deem worthless, but when they're organized and classified and regarded as a whole, they can hold a message.
For Rosenthal's work, the danger of garbage is subdued as it is 'beautified' in a collection of stills—yet that is pretty much how we regard trash, as well. It's worthless nothing-ness that we think isn't all that harmful, but actually is.
With regard to his work process, Rosenthal relates, "the beach is my flea market and found objects my inspiration." He also added that he takes "a lot of stuff" because he doesn't know what he is "going to find or how it will work out later." For him, he'd "rather not judge what to take and what not," as what he finds influences what he eventually sets out to do."
[via Co.design, images via Barry Rosenthal]