Flotsam & Jetsam

Dimitris Karaiskos is a graphic design from Athens who collects interesting debris that washes ashore. He has recently published his collection in a book entitled "Flotsam & Jetsam".

"It's actually a small part (about 150 pieces) of my collection of around 1000 objects I found washed up mainly on beaches in Greece but also around the world (from Scotland to New Zealand and the Maldives).

Some of them are strange and unusual, some are common but photographed in such a way that you can't really tell what they are (or how big they are, since we decided to kill any sense of scale): Nautical maps and graphs found nearby cargo boat wrecks, pieces from lighthouses, an inflatable sex-doll head, a lifejacket from a US-Navy fighter jet, pieces of driftwood that look like creatures, deformed kids' toys and endless consumer products from around the world in their dilapitated by the sea, sun and oil packaging. We paired these objects together in funny or nice-looking combinations."

In the book's introduction, Ian Jeffreys writes, "Beachcombing is a way of consulting providence. You walk the shore and kick this or that piece of plastic debris and although it might turn out to be no more than an emptied tube of Polish toothpaste discharged by a freighter it might be altogether more intriguing. If we are lucky providence delivers something of value, something surprising and enlivening."