Liverpool Plinth sculpture highlights 'shocking' sea pollution

Gail Dooley said she hoped the piece "shocked" people into action

A sculpture responding to the "shocking levels of global marine pollution" has been unveiled as the latest to top the Liverpool Plinth.

Gail Dooley's Tidal Shame is the third piece to take up a year-long residence outside Liverpool Parish Church.

It depicts a gannet tangled in plastic waste collected on Merseyside and Guernsey beaches during lockdown.

The artist, from Holmfirth in West Yorkshire, said the piece was about humans "trashing the planet".

"I hope that when people see it, they are shocked, because it is shocking," she said.

"The sculpture is my response to the shocking levels of global marine pollution [made from] a load of rubbish that's been collected on Liverpool and Guernsey beaches.

"This is my way of doing something, because I feel very hopeless about the situation."

The work depicts a gannet tangled in plastic waste

The sculpture follows pieces by Tony Heaton and Sam Shendi on to the plinth, which began hosting works by artists from northern England in 2018.

The project is a collaboration between Liverpool BID Company, the church and independent art gallery Dot-art.

Canon Crispin Pailing, the Rector of Liverpool, said the two previous plinth artworks had "provoked conversations and drawn people towards new ideas and challenges", but Dooley's piece was "possibly the most thought-provoking work yet".