Dxnfoster_Designs: The Ocean Collection

The Ocean Collection is a miniseries of cold, timeless blue tones integrated with stark lights and darks. Inspired by the effects of climate change, Dan Foster of Dxnfoster_Designs wanted to develop four pieces which reflected how we are impacting the world around us. “I hope these prints bring some element of awareness. What is happening? What is the future like? What can we do?” says Dan. He continues; “I think its highly important that people take inspiration from the events currently happening around climate change to give us insight into what we can do to inspire change”. Through the collection, Dan hopes to inspire the viewer to take action to reduce their individual impact on the Earth.

All of the prints were created using alcohol ink and digital enhancement; techniques that define Dan’s style as an artist. Alongside the prints, he has also added the designs onto phone cases, and aims to reproduce them on to journals, diaries, and small vegan leather pouches. “This project has made me think about my impact on the world and have therefore taken dramatic steps to completely redesign how I ship my prints and the packaging involved. 98% of my packaging is now fully recyclable” states the designer.

The collection is comprised of 4 designs; The Storm, The Ice Caves, The Copper Waves, and The Pools. Below, Dan tells us about the inspiration behind each piece:

The Storm

The aim for this piece was to portray how climate change is affecting our weather. The high seas are the Earth’s meteorological lungs and with rising sea temperatures, the rate at which our weather is changing is gargantuan. This piece aims to show, with its dark undertones and flashes of lightning-like whites, that like a storm, there are turbulent and unpredictable changes ahead. With global temperatures rising, in hand so does the frequency and severity of the Earth’s weather. The weather is changing.

The Ice Caves

Due to global warming, we now lose 390 billion tonnes of snow and ice each year. With this piece, I wanted to create something that reflected how the melting glaciers leave caverns and caves for water to flow through, finding its way into our rising oceans. With the darkness of this piece I hoped to represent how quickly our seas are rising. Higher sea levels now mean that more frequent and catastrophic storm surges push inland more than they once did. The ice is melting.

The Copper Waves

As much as 12.7 billion tonnes of plastic enters our oceans every year. On its current exponential trajectory, by 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. With this piece, I wanted to show that our oceans are no longer waves of water, but waves of plastic. The ‘grit’ to this piece I wanted to represent the billions of tonnes of plastic that floats in our seas. The seas are being filled.

The Pools

When the sea ice melts, animals that rely on it must adapt or perish. Sea ice loss is now posing serious threats to the Arctic’s indigenous species – its seals, fish, wolves, foxes, and polar bears. In September 2020, the arctic sea ice melted to the second lowest ever point of 3.92 million sq km. In this piece, I wanted to portray that the previous expanse of white sea ice is no longer there. With the cold blues now replacing the bright whites, sea ice is rapidly turning back to ocean. The animals are perishing.

Learn more:
www.ourplanet.com
www.support.wwf.org.uk

www.dxnfosterdesigns.co.uk

You can also shop the rest of Dan’s collection on Department Store here.

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