Another Kind of Armageddon

'Another Kind of Armageddon I-III' (Seaside Goddess) | acrylic on board, plastic fish, gold paint | 2008-2017

This triptych is about the accumulating plastic pollution in the oceans and it’s predicted impact.

I wasn't exactly ignorant about the cleanliness of the beaches I had visited over the years,but I had little inkling of the magnitude of the emerging problem. A couple of years ago I heard of the "Ocean Cleanup", and then, earlier this year, I read the Focus Magazine's January edition. An article about the state of our seas claimed that if we don't change our habits AND start cleaning the seas, then the PLASTIC WASTE IN THE OCEANS COULD OUTWEIGH THE FISH by 2050. I was shocked, saddened and infuriated all at once. In 2010 we put so much plastic waste in our seas that if they were to fill plastic bags, there would be 5 of them for every foot of all the coastlines in the world.

I could think of little else ever since. I am wondering: we have 33 years to do something. Not very long, my daughter will be about as old as I am now by 2050. As 2.5 billion people rely on fish as a major source of protein - one third of the world's population - the decline in fish numbers may well bring widespread famine... What a legacy to leave.

This work is based on an earlier piece, where I used my daughter's toddler-scribbles: indicating the passage of time and emphasising the vision-like depiction of a doomsday scenario. A different kind of Armageddon, not full of fire and heroic fight between good and evil, just sadly everyday, cheap and superficial. A stupid and lazy way to our demise: covered with shiny pieces of everlasting plastic suffocating life and beauty.

The artwork will be exhibited at the 156th Society of Women Artists' Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries, 4 - 9 July.