ARTIVISM CHALLENGE WINNER
'OCEAN RAINFOREST'. WINNER OF THE OCEANIC GLOBAL ARTIVISM CHALLENGE. EXHIBITED DURING ART BASEL MIAMI.
After ‘Ocean Rainforest’ was showcased by Oceanic Global in 'The Current', it went on to win the Artivism Challenge. The competition utilised the visual arts to raise awareness about six critical issues impacting our ocean. The judges included Susan Rockefeller, Dustin Yellin, Aaron Levi Garvey, Doumi Busturia, Alexandre Arrechea and Zaria Forman. The companion piece entitled 'Symbiosis' went on to be a 2018 1ST ARTSLANT Prize Showcase Winner.
‘OCEAN RAINFOREST’
Mixed media. 39.5 X 39.5 INCHES (100CM X 100CM) 2017. The painting is part of the collection entitled 'ANTHROPOCENE ❌TINCTION', an ongoing series highlighting the unnatural pressures inflicted on the natural world by humanity. The painting focuses on several species of sea turtle, one of the Earth’s most ancient creatures who have been around since the time of the dinosaurs. No other group of vertebrates is facing a cloud of extinction quite like turtles with nearly half being imminently threatened. The critically endangered Hawksbill Turtle, which is less migratory and more reef-associated, is represented in black and white. In some places around the world coral reefs have been entirely destroyed, while in others they are a shadow of what they once were. Nearly 90% of our reefs could be gone by 2050, eradicating a global source of food and livelihood worth an estimated $1 trillion if nothing is done to protect one of the most bio diverse ecosystems on the planet. Their loss could prove catastrophic in terms of climate change due to their importance as carbon storage assets. The ghostly female figure is supposed to represent the source of water, yet here it is uncertain if she may be the source of pollution, an allegorical reminder that our future is inherently bound up with our treatment of the earth’s natural resources.
