British photographic artist Andy Hughes learned to surf in South Wales in 1985, where encounters with sewage and contaminated waters shaped his art practice. His multidisciplinary practice includes photography, painting, sculpture, film, and digital media. He was an early and active member of Surfers Against Sewage.
Dominant Wave Theory (2006) is a groundbreaking book that examines plastic waste along the coast, focusing on the debris found where Hughes learned to surf.
Dominant Wave Theory is the first photographic monograph that combines texts from scientists and leading commentators with images of wasted and washed-ashore plastic debris as its sole focus.
Dominant Wave Theory was designed by David Carson, known for his innovative and experimental graphic design and typography work. The book includes essays and contributions by Chris Hines MBE, Dr Richard Thompson MBE, Lena Lencek, Dr Chris Short and Josh Karliner.
In June 2013, Hughes was invited by the Alaska SeaLife Centre, The Smithsonian, and the Anchorage Museum to take part in the 'Gyre: The Plastic Ocean Expedition,' the world’s first science and art project dedicated to documenting and interpreting the issue of plastic pollution in the marine environment.
In 2022, Hughes was nominated and undertook a six-month artist residency at Gapado AiR, South Korea, during which he created artworks incorporating various concepts, including the real, the surreal, surfaces, the ocean, circulatory systems, plastic waste, and energy.
In 2024 The Burton Art Gallery and Museum appointed Andy Hughes for an environmental art commission that included the creation of a video artwork (Machinima) and research aimed at developing alternate perspectives on climate change and pollution.
While at Gapado AiR, Hughes developed several multimodal projects, including works commissioned for the 2022 Jeju Biennale. The exhibition at the Jeju Museum of Contemporary Art featured four commissioned video pieces. In conjunction two large circular photographs made of polycarbonate were sited on Gapado Island, overlooking the ocean towards Japan.
"Very few directors have tackled the complex relationship between environmental issues and digital games. With Plastic Scoop, Andy Hughes makes that connection painfully manifest. By appropriating both the aesthetics of video games and the language of vintage promotional videos and other archival material, à la Adam Curtis, Hughes reminds us that have become aliens to our own planet”. - Matteo Bittanti
Plastiglomerate refers to a type of human-made rock formation that consists of a combination of melted plastic debris, sediment, and other natural materials. It is created when plastic waste, such as bottles, bags, and other discarded items, is exposed to high heat, often from fires or burning, and fuses together with sediment, shells, and sand.
'In an interview, Hughes stated that the black grains are tiny particles of coal from the region’s industrial past and that they have been circulating with the tides for decades, longer than our lifetimes and he pointed out that the coloured debris, settled in with the coal and sand, are micro-plastics. What fascinates the artist about his photograph is its early date. In 1990, there was no media coverage of anthropogenic climate change; no public awareness of the presence and agency of micro-plastics entering the geological processes of land and sea, or being ingested by organic life and humans'
