A gold award winning entry in the 2022 international Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Contest features an inspirational piece of artwork showing 3M tape ‘fixing the ice’.
Arinne Ryu from Sherborne in the UK was chosen as a gold award winner in the 2022 international Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Contest, sponsored by Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Programs, for her imaginative artwork showing 3M tape ‘fixing the ice’.
The international environmental programme encourages youth climate activism in the form of artwork, writing, film and other creative media, such as dance, spoken word and music, to speak up for the blue planet.
Arinne was a gold winner in the junior visual art category and her work is featured on the Bow Seat Website.
Speaking about her winning entry, Arinne said: “In my artwork, Arctic animals work together to tape the ice as it melts. Humans, unaffected by climate change on a day-to-day basis because our homes are intact, leave the mess to be cleaned up by the animals who are most affected by global warming. They now face extinction unless something is done to save their habitat. I thought of using 3M tape in the drawing because it’s a well-known brand of tape. You can see that the animals are using it to hold the ice together. Even if the tape is only a temporary fix to the problem, they are doing whatever they can to save their homes.
“This topic was important to me because I want people to see this drawing and realise that climate change must be taken seriously and that the animals that need our help most are the ones who suffer the most.”
Program manager, Eric Carstens, said: “Arinne’s piece embodied the 2022 contest theme, The Funny Thing About Climate Change, so well by bringing animals from different parts of the world together to reconnect the ice with 3M tape. The polar bear’s exasperated expression is something that we can all relate to, especially when we’re thinking about climate change.
“We also loved the fact that the animals were using something created by humans – 3M tape – to fix the problem. Humans cannot afford to take a backseat during this crisis. We need to work to reverse climate change and ensure that these polar bears, penguins, seals and otters are not left on their own.”
Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Programs is a Boston-based nonprofit working in the area of environmental advocacy and the arts. It was founded by artist, Linda Cabot, when she returned from taking her daughters on a sailing trip to the Gulf of Maine to film a documentary on puffin, cod and lobster conservation.
The programme encourages these young people, aged 11-18, to harness the power of the creative process to raise awareness of critical issues such as climate change, plastic pollution, environmental justice and endangered species.
Bow Seat has a team of nearly 70 judges, made up of artists, poets, science communicators, animators and musicians, that review thousands of submissions every year. Every piece is seen by at least three judges, who assess how well it addresses the annual theme and look at the creativity and impact of the piece.
The Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Contest is promoted to students and educators through the programme’s social media sites, as well as through workshops and student exhibitions at museums, aquariums and conferences.
