Reflection

Reflection

This piece is a representation of the impacts of climate change on marine and arctic biota. Climate change effects the ocean because it causes acidification as carbon dioxide diffuses through its surface, as well as ocean warming because of the increase in average global temperature. The extra heat results in coral bleaching because it breaks the symbiotic relationship between zooxanthellae and coral, and also causes glaciers to melt and thermal expansion, contributing to water levels rising. Just as human habits endanger habitats and drive many species to extinction, the woman is oblivious to the destruction around her, symbolized by the lack of face as it is masked with the roots of the tree. Much of the effects are shown in the skirt of the dress, including oil drilling, flooding, anatomical damage because of single-use plastics to testudines and seabirds, micro-plastic pollution, overfishing, ocean water rising, and coral bleaching. I used pieces of straws, utensils, plastic bags, rings, parts of bottles, and nets as the mixed media aspect of this piece. Along with these materials, I used gouache, watercolor, Copic markers, and Prismacolors.