Because the local weather disaster worsens across the globe, its results aren’t any extra obvious than in our oceans and the communities that depend on them. Delicate coral reefs, for instance, face stresses from not solely rising sea temperatures however the residue of human presence—plastics, castoff fishing tools, and different waste.
Heat water is often the perpetrator in coral bleaching occasions, characterised by algae leaving the organisms and turning them a ghostly white. The algae supplies a meals supply and helps to guard the coral from illness, however when it goes, the host is left far more susceptible. For Ana Brecevic (beforehand), this phenomenon conjures up work that pulls consideration to this pressing situation.
Her current sequence, Plasticum, displays on the ever-growing downside of plastic air pollution within the earth’s oceans whereas contrasting the great thing about marine ecosystems with their vulnerability to human affect. The artist meticulously cuts silhouettes of bleached corals and gorgonians—also called sea followers—and ornaments them with baubles harking back to particles.
“I stay alongside the Atlantic coast, the place I accumulate marine waste that conjures up and feeds into this physique of labor,” Brecevic says. “The whole lot is created from recycled paper, upcycled materials, and pure dyes.”
The artist describes Plasticum as “a quiet echo of a actuality slowly settling in,” the place microplastics and waste regularly threaten underwater habitats and biodiversity. She says, “By way of this work, I hope to spark questions on our connection to dwelling ecosystems and what we select to see—or overlook.”
Discover extra on Brecevic’s web site and Instagram.
