A year ago this SIPHONOPHORE was installed for Winter is Alive- A world wide festival dedicated to climate action.
The week I installed last year had sub zero temps and I had to stop a few times because I couldn't feel my hands.
A couple weeks after installation all the snow was gone and it was so warm that the installations on Madison lakes had to be taken down nearly 2 weeks earlier than planned
Comparatively this year and today in particular it's nearly 50 degrees more than it was at this time last year. In the past decade in February there have been 70 degree days. While many Midwesterners rejoice during warm temps in the middle of winter, I find it alarming.
This SIPHONOPHORE represents our hopes, our collective and individual actions and how they all work together. The actions we take as individuals matter. Things worth doing require time, patience and love.
I do believe that individual action can drive change. In siphonophores, individual organisms join together to form a colonial organism in order to survive.
Climate action is a siphonophore, we are dependent on each other to feed the movement that ensures not only our survival but also all other life on this planet.
I believe the oceans are where life originated and the preservation of the oceans also maintains balance for all life on this blue marble.
Part of my climate action as an artist is in presenting what is contained in the blue of our marble and deep sea creatures in particular. These creatures aren't visible to us, we know relatively nothing about them and yet they're responsible for a large portion of the oxygen we breathe, for sinking tons of carbon and much else we don't even know we don't know. By better understanding them we come to know ourselves.