Seventh-grader Christina Chen’s rendering of a ribbonfish filled with refuse paints a grim picture for aquatic life being inundated with pollution from plastics. EDISON — A student at John Adams Middle School received an award for her portrayal of the destruction plastics that are wreaking the world’s oceans.
Seventh-grader Christina Chen won Honorable Mention and a $100 prize for her submission to the 2015 International Ocean Awareness Student Contest. Chosen from more than 1,100 entries from 35 countries, Christina’s art will be featured in galleries and merchandise sent around the world.
“The art piece expressed the idea of plastic bottles polluting the ocean — that even the ocean life itself has been merged with plastic bottles,” Christina said of her rendering of ribbonfish with plastic bottles lodged inside it. “These bottles hurt the ocean and its marine life; why hurt them, when we — yes, us humans — committed this crime.”
The contest this year prompted students to consider “Our Oceans, Our Plastic” to direct attention to the growing international problem of plastic pollution in the seas. The contest challenges students to combine art, science and environmental advocacy to give a voice to the oceans.
Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Programs, the international ocean conservation nonprofit that hosts the contest each year, plans to give out over $50,000 to the winners of the middle school and high school divisions of the contest.
Submissions ranged from essays and stories exploring the causes of plastic pollution, to sculptures and dresses crafted completely out of discarded beach plastics. The artists and their work will be featured in real-world exhibitions and distribution projects that will be coordinated with Bow Seat’s international partners over the coming year.
“Jacques Cousteau said that people protect what they love,” said Linda Cabot, who founded the contest. “While science and technology are critical to understanding our planet and deciding what to do next, alone they aren’t enough to inspire long-term cultural shifts. Humans aren’t purely rational creatures. That’s why we need to convey creative narratives like stories, poetry, film, and visual art — they engage our emotions, our heart. We need to use our heads and our hearts so that we can protect this planet that we love.”
The high school winners of the contest will be announced in mid-October, and the 2016 contest will open in November and run until June. For more information and to view the winning submissions, visit fromthebowseat.org.