Don’t Worry, There Are Lots More Fish in the Sea

Don’t Worry, There Are Lots of Fish in the Sea is a mixed media assemblage that examines the irony of abundance in an age of ecological collapse. The sculpture depicts a solitary figure standing on a quayside, reeling in a catch of plastic fish-shaped soy sauce containers — debris I collected from the beach. This work transforms discarded fragments of consumer culture into a reflection on the depletion of marine life and the illusion of endless resources. The familiar saying that gives the piece its title — often used to offer comfort — becomes a bitter echo of denial, exposing our collective complacency in the face of environmental degradation. The act of fishing, once a symbol of sustenance and connection to nature, is reimagined here as a futile gesture: the figure pulls up not nourishment, but waste. By re-contextualizing these found plastics within a sculptural form, the work asks viewers to confront their relationship with consumption, pollution, and the fragile ecosystems that sustain us. Don’t Worry, There Are Lots of Fish in the Sea invites both irony and mourning — a meditation on what remains when the sea gives back only what we have thrown into it.