Plastic Particles In
My Testicles
Photography zine, 2025
Plastic Particles In My Testicles is a photographic response to microplastics pollution in human bodies illustrated by plastic-rich analogue photography.
Recent research shows that microplastics enter human (and animal) bodies and accumulate in our organs. They’re in our hearts, lungs, bowels, brains and testicles; they are found in blood, breast milk, urine and semen (for more info, see links below).
I experimented with plastic-rich photographic media, photographing skies with discontinued Fuji Instant Colour Film, then reclaimed and lifted negatives. Two nudes were portrayed on expired Polaroid film. Photograms were made in the darkroom on contemporary resin-coated (plastic) black and white photo paper.
Wet plate collodion self-portraits using plastic sheeting express my horror at my body becoming increasingly polluted with microplastics.
Plastics were introduced into photography in the 1890s. Since then millions of non-biodegradable photographs have been discarded. In a brief essay Bakker asks, if photographs contain plastics and plastics break down into microplastics, then how much photography resides inside our bodies?
Publication date 8 August 2025 (revised edition)
A4 size, 36pp, stapled
Pages 150gsm glossy paper, cover 250gsm gloss varnish
Published by Negative Press London
Printed in England
Buy https://negativepresslondon.bigcartel.com/product/plastic-particles-in-my-testicles
Selected news and science articles about micro plastics pollution, 2022-25
• Microplastics found in human blood for first time
The Guardian, March 2022
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/mar/24/microplastics-found-in-human-blood-for-first-time
• Microplastics from textiles: towards a circular economy for textiles in Europe
European Environment Agency, February 2022
https://www.eea.europa.eu/
• Microplastics are in our bodies. Here’s why we don’t know the health risks
Science News, March 2023
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/microplastics-human-bodies-health-risks
• Microplastics are everywhere — we need to understand how they affect human health
Nature Medicine, April 2024
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-02968-x
• Microplastics are infiltrating brain tissue, studies show: ‘There’s nowhere left untouched’
The Guardian, August 2024
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/21/microplastics-brain-pollution-health
• Microplastic presence in dog and human testis and its potential association with sperm count and weights of testis and epididymis
Toxicological Sciences, August 2024
https://academic.oup.com/toxsci/article/200/2/235/7673133?login=false
• Microplastic within humans now a health crisis: Interview with ‘Plastic People’ filmmakers
Mongabay, March 2025
https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/microplastic-within-humans-now-a-health-crisis-interview-with-plastic-people-filmmakers/
• Microplastics hinder plant photosynthesis, study finds, threatening millions with starvation
The Guardian, March 2025
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/10/microplastics-hinder-plant-photosynthesis-study-finds-threatening-millions-with-starvation
• New study finds 1,450% increase in microplastic levels within soil, March 2025
Robert Gordon University Aberdeen, March 2025
https://www.rgu.ac.uk/news/news-2025/7961-new-study-finds-1-450-increase-in-microplastic-levels-within-soil-after-four-years-of-sewage-sludge-application
• 4 things you didn’t know about microplastics pollution
World Economic forum, April 2025
https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/04/impact-microplastics-environment-health/
• Everything you should know about microplastic
United Nations Environment Program, June 2025
https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/everything-you-should-know-about-microplastics
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