What do you think the image above represents? Give up? Here's another clue. Where in nature do you think this picture may have been taken? The artist featured here(as Part 2 of the ephemeral art blog series), is artist Georgette Apol Douwma. She creates vibrant, colorful images from our coral reefs and fish friends living in the ocean. Her photography started on a trip many years ago in the 1970's, when she went scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef. For 40 years, Georgette went scuba diving in many places around the globe. While doing so, she also took thousands of images from oceans all around the world. She gave up scuba diving in 2020 at the age of 79. It was then that she began to experiment with all of her previously taken photographs, by digitally duplicating, reversing, and "mirroring" the images to create unique and complex patterns. Her photography was recently featured in the June 2024 issue of National Geographic. The ephemeral nature of coral and the underwater world is of course, ever-changing, so the photograph taken is the only true lasting image of this amazing scenery. You can view a few more of her artworks below.
By the way, here is an important fact about coral reefs. Did you know, that coral reefs compose less than 1% of the ocean floor, yet they have a disproportional impact on ocean life, as they help sustain more than 25% of all marine species. This means that thousands of ocean animals depend on coral reefs! But did you also know, that coral reefs are currently facing an existential threat? Due to the ocean warming from climate change, many reefs are experiencing "bleaching." When the reefs bleach, they turn white. To learn more about this and what you can do to help, click here.
Here is a sneak peek into next month's blog--Part 3 of ephemeral nature artists!
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