This is not an assemblage, it is an albatross that died after eating debris its parents mistook for food. The phenomenon is common in the garbage-choked Midway Atoll where thousands of such corpses appear yearly. The photographer, Chris Jordan, captured these transfixing images just as he found them. See more on the NYRblog, or read Tim Flannery’s piece on the evolving Gaia concept. Click “Read More” for a slideshow of Jordan’s images.