14-28 March 2025
In the summer of 2023, two months before joining the postgraduate program at the Kunst Akademiet I Trondheim, I spent a total of seven weeks living and working as a Kystrenovatør (Coastal Renovator) in the remote north of Norway. Kystrenovatør is the job title of an individual contracted to remove human-made marine waste, primarily plastic, from Norway’s coastline - the second longest in the world. This work is undertaken as part of the nationwide Rydd I Tide project, a project funded by the Handelensmiljøfond. The Handelensmiljøfond is a fund made up from a portion of the profits from plastic bag sales in Norwegian stores. The aim of Rydd I Tide is to clear the entire Norwegian coastline of marine plastic waste by 2028, while also gathering data on the materials being collected.
It was during this initial summer as a Kystrenovatør that I became fascinated by the nature of the labour involved in completing this project. Horrified by the extent of plastic waste in the coastal environment, I began to feel a strong desire to create a response to what I was seeing. These photographs were made while conducting field work in Mausund, Finnmark and on the Norwegian governed territory of Svalbard.
And if I Remained by the Outermost Sea is an attempt to make sense of what I witnessed while working on these remote expeditions. They illustrate our experiences of pulling household plastic products from the nests of migratory birds in the polar circle; cutting the remains of entangled reindeer from discarded fishing nets; and collecting tonnes of plastic from the habitats of wildlife such as whales, polar bears and puffins.
Marc Pricop is a dabbler. Over the past 10 years, he has dabbled as a handyman, professional photographer, artist’s assistant, sandwich artist, photo technician, beach cleaner, dishwasher, house painter, gallery technician, polar logistics coordinator and university lecturer. While undertaking this broad range of endeavours, he has usually had a camera with him. This is because he likes to photograph the things taking place around him, as much as he likes to be a part of them.
Marc holds an Honours degree in Photojournalism from the former Queensland College of Art Photography Program in Brisbane, and is now undertaking a Master of Fine Art in Norway. In winter, he likes to snowboard and sleep, while in summer, he works as one of the northernmost garbage collectors in the world.
