Media makeup student highlights pollution of our local beaches

A student aiming for a career in the film industry has used a sweep of our coastline to create a stark warning about how plastics are killing the sea.

Philippa Gibbons, from East Boldon, picked up litter from beaches in Seaburn, South Shields and Seaham and used the waste in her final college project.

The 20-year-old is studying an HND in Media Make-up at Northumberland College in Ashington and plans to find work in the television and film industry following further studies.

She drafted in fellow student Tiffany Harrison, 24, as her model and staged her shoot on the sand at Newbiggin.

Philippa, who works at Blush and Glow salon in Boldon alongside her two-year course, said: “I’ve been doing my final project this year and it had to be big, and I had seen a lot of stuff marine-related and I thought it was a good topic to cover.

“I was doing research into what people know about sea pollution and what I found was there wasn’t a lot of awareness about it.

“I wanted people to see the bigger picture.

“It’s been done using beach debris, so netting, pieces of rubbish off the beaches, and I was really surprised about how much I got, big bags full, when I went to Seaburn, South Shields and Seaham.

“I filled so many bags and I got quite emotional about how much I found.

“I’m really happy with how it turned out.

“I thought about doing a dying mermaid, but I didn’t want it to be a fantasy, I wanted to make it look like the oceans and sea is dying because of this plastic.

“All the comments have been really lovely about it and people have said they are going to try and recycle more, so it’s been really positive

Philippa’s previous work has included a body painting on her own skin showing the Tommy statue in Seaham as she paid respects to the fallen of the First World War.