Ultimately, suggests the photographer, he isn’t constructing a surreal landscape but unveiling painful truths about the real world and what we’ve done to it. After plastics contaminate the ocean, they release toxins into the water, are consumed by marine wildlife, and ultimately by human mouths. Sadly, many of the plastics collected by Durán cannot be recycled due to extended exposure to sea water and sunlight, so he holds onto them for future use in his own art as well as work in community education programs. “I think that we are just starting to see the damage that we are causing to our marine ecosystems and ourselves,” cautions the photographer.