Trash Mermaid is an art project started in 2016 by Jenny Rei to raise awareness about the pollution of our oceans and coastal areas. 

“I love the ocean and its inabitants. I used to be a competitive swimmer when I was young and until this day I free dive and feel nowhere else in this world more home and free than in the water and ocean. 

When I was little scientists and environmentalists were already warning about the dangers of the pollution of our oceans, rivers and lakes. 

The waters and lands of our planet have been devastated throughout the last 100 years. It feels like human kind is raging war against Mother Nature in every possible way one could imagine. The dramatic effects of overfishing, and the unnatural practices of big agriculture are just a few of many issues. Plastics, toxins and carcinogens can be found in all our water ways, on every beach in the world, in our food chain and in our bodies.  

We can’t be in denial any longer about the results of our abnormal and unsustainable ways of living, consuming, how we treat nature, as well as our inadequate waste and garbage disposal. The costs of our demanding and comfortable lives are being suffered by millions of species everyday, the poorest of the poor, and all future generations to come. 

Unless we start to strictly regulate the giant corporations that exploit this planet’s resources, our resources, completely change our personal lifestyles, how and what we consume, how we live and eat, as well as our entire outlook on how our Blue Planet works, all of us will face the severe consequences of our reckless behavior of not participating in the normal cycles of nature and life.” - Jenny Rei

Photography by Taras Taraporvala; hair and make up by Richard Wilkinson; mermaid, concept, location and styling by Jenny Rei; retoucher and post production The Fat Retoucher. Shot in and around Mumbai, India.