Vanishing Reef
Coral reefs are in decline worldwide due to climate change, pollution, and other human causes. Half the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest ecosystem, has bleached to death since 2016. Coral bleaching occurs when coral polyps expel the photosynthetic zooxanthellae algae living inside them in response to environmental stress. These algae normally supply up to 90% of the coral’s energy, and without them the coral will starve. If we do nothing, coral reefs will be wiped out within our lifetimes.
After spending an entire semester meticulously rendering this painting, I used sandpaper and nitric acid to partially destroy my creation, representing the physical and chemical threats which are destroying reefs.
With this work, I symbolically represent the death of the Great Barrier Reef, which is itself symbolic of all the world’s coral reefs. I grapple with my own unwilling culpability in that destruction, and the personal pain I feel at this tragedy.
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