Marine life is under threat from a variety of human effects, including climate change, ocean acidification, and plastic pollution. I'm hopeful that art which highlights the relationships between wild animals and the contaminants in their environments can help inspire change.
Collage of the jaws of a great white shark, created with plastic and styrofoam marine debris found in Half Moon Bay, CA and mounted on a used children’s tabletop. All sharks are keystone species that are critical to marine ecosystem health and are already threatened by the shark fin trade and unsustainable fishing practices. At the top of the food chain, they ingest any plastic that has accumulated in their prey.
Winner of the Surfrider Foundation Found Objects art contest, 2022. 34 x 34 in. ©2022 GLM.
Collage of a mother and calf humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae. Created with plastic and styrofoam marine debris collected from Half Moon Bay, CA, Puerto Vallerta, Mexico, and the great Pacific garbage patch, which are all places these animals travel between to breed and feed.
Finalist in the Vizzie awards by the National Science Foundation, 2018. 36 x 16 in. ©2018 GLM.
Collage of a juvenile sea turtle, created with plastic marine debris collected from the Brisbane River and coastal islands near the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia. Sea turtles are extremely vulnerable to plastic pollution because they mistake small bits of plastic for food and can become too buoyant to dive below the surface of the ocean. Several sea turtle species nest on the islands of the Great Barrier Reef and live and feed along the East coast of Australia. 9 x 10.5 in. ©2019 GLM.
Collage of the Laysan Albatross, Phoebastria immutabilis, created with plastic marine debris collected at Kamilo beach, Hawaii, by Capt. Charles Moore. Seabirds like the Laysan Albatross are extremely vulnerable to marine pollution because they mistake small bits of plastic for food and feed it to their chicks. 9 x 12 in. ©2015 GLM.