Mangrove series Into the Light, 2020 
Graphite and Charcoal on Hahnemuller 
120 x 150 cm
 
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Mangroves so crucial to our ocean, wildlife communities, rookeries and guardians of future generations are seen by humans as disposable. By exploring their inherent beauty, I hope to create awareness about the changes to our coastline and engage the viewer about the human impact on these fragile spaces. Standing like sentinels to protect the health of our oceans, rivers, and planet biodiversity, their loss is at our peril. 
 
This artwork embraces the tradition of drawing on paper to create a dialogue about the mangroves themselves and the loss of mangrove forests globally. Costal development, agricultural runoff and manufacturing are reflected in the use of processed white paper, chosen to initiate a discourse about the role of development and manufacturing in polluting our waterways. This pollution has historically destroyed vast areas of mangroves. The continued destruction of what remains of mangrove forests puts in danger our very existence.  
 
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Mangroves… hold their memories like badges, witnesses to the memories of the landscape.  
 
Unwilling companions to our impositions of change. Like sentinels on the sand, you feel like an interloper into a world beyond your mind, one where they move quietly and gracefully as though dancing upon the sands.   
 
Many have fallen to human settlement but in the darker places under the canopy they spread. You can see their true selves, with their walking legs.
 
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