With oceans covering 71% of the earth’s surface, it is easy to see the vital role they play for natural life. Although we may not be capable of ever exploring some of these vast regions and deep waters, as humans we are still very much capable of severely polluting and harming these unexplored depths of our seas. Many animals are struggling with sea flora because of plastics and oils that have been dumped in the waters, and some populations are struggling with a lack of clean drinking water due to issues with filtration and severe pollution. Eco activism is apparent in society, but are we all considerably eco aware?
Natalija Gucheva has been considering these issues when working on her most recent project at the HKU University of the Arts Utrecht. After considering the polluted state of our oceans, in her latest two piece artwork Natilija was inspired to create a “Polluted Sea Ground”. In the piece Natalija uses neon colours to visibly highlight and show the toxic substances that are contaminating our waters, and abstract shapes to represent algae and other sea flora.
On the topic of sea pollution she states: “When I’m visiting the beach I look in the water at the trails of sun scream just floating on top of the sea like the oil stains that float in the ocean due to oil leaks.”
The sculpture has been created using left over materials from the Lucrative Dumpster Drive that Natalija and her fellow students have available in their university building. The piece represents that re-using materials can cause less littering and help to shrink the large amount of rubbish that is produced globally.
As part of the piece, Natalija incorporated a textile print as a background. When working on an artwork, she enjoys practising a wide range of techniques. She printed abstract sea shapes in warmer and more natural gradient tones in order to symbolise the decay of the sea life in polluted waters. The background was printed on recycled cotton with MDF wood, in order to further highlight the piece’s message of environmental awareness. Natalija has also used forms belonging to Dutch visual artist Caz Egelie in her finished sculpture.
On the completed piece Natalija concludes: “The artwork for me is an alarm for people to really think about how we deal with our waters, and how pollution may effect the long term water consumption of people all around the world.”
You can see more of Natalija’s work on Behance.
Check out her work on Department Store.
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