Photographer Chris Johnson’s portraits of mass consumption are a disturbingly beautiful artistic close-up of our discarded consumer goods and waste. Images of stacked crushed cars and overlapping streams of jet exhaust are just some of the environmental themes explored in Johnson’s work.

Below is one the most notable photographs from his 2003-2005 “Intolerable Beauty” series: a photograph of a collection of discarded mobile phones organized in a pattern inspired by the Andromeda galaxy. “We discard 130 million mobile phones in the US every year,” says Jordan, who uses the combination of photos and almost incomprehensible statistics to drive home his message about the amount of pure stuff that American’s consume each year.

Jordan’s artistic intention is to make all of us (himself not excluded) more aware of the waste that we produce.   He wants us to reflect upon our consumer behaviors, and to maintain hope in the possibility of individuals making small changes in their lives that dissuade our culture of waste in the United States.

For more on Chris Jordan’s photographs and exhibitions, and visit his website. You can also by checking out Collectivegood.com, a recycling resource for mobile devices, which aims to minimize their impact on the environment.