Ocean Rise Documentary
Aphra Shemza: Ocean Rise - A project funded by the Arts Council of England.
In collaboration with SPACER, National Gallery X, Art in Flux, Central Saint Martins, Goldsmiths University, Artquest, Julie’s Bicycle and the Centre for Sustainable Practice in the Arts.
“I believe it is imperative that we each do our bit to contribute to a greener future. Ocean Rise is a project about the climate crisis, sustainable art production and accessibility. It offers solutions for a more sustainable model of art making, recycling plastic waste and turning it into innovative new artworks.” Aphra Shemza.
SPACER Residency
During the project I joined the artist community at SPACER with a free studio space and a number of free mentoring sessions. I purchased three new plastic recycling machines (a shreddar, a sheet press and a T-shirt press) which have scaled up my recycling capabilities to produce new work and workshop content. SPACER and I also published a number of blog posts on their website for their online audience which you will find here.
New Series of Work
My new Ocean Rise series takes the recycling process one step further. Not only am I saving this waste material that would otherwise be destined for the ocean, but I am also creating new artworks that visualise the rising sea levels due to global warming, highlighting the interconnectivity between these different systems.
Ocean Rise I-IV, 2022 make reference to our monolithic sculptures from the past. They are a reimagining of contemporary art, one where our precious resources are considered alongside the scale of the work. The works’ forms are all divisible by 10cm, which is the amount that global sea levels have risen in the last 30 years according to Nasa’s climate website. The pieces highlight this measurement by showing it physically thus helping to make the climate data tangible for the audience.
The works are made using recycled LDPE sheets that I have created from waste packaging and coloured plastic bags using my new techniques. They are illuminated to highlight the connectivity between the ocean, climate and cycles of the sun.
Ocean Rise V also visualises the global rise in sea levels by displaying the graph line from Nasa’s climate website for sea level rise in the last 15 years. The animation of the light moves across the work like the ebb and flow of the tide up and down the artwork creating a meditative effect on the viewer. The work itself is made from recycled LDPE created using a marbling technique that allows me to make surfaces that look like water, serving to connect plastic pollution to the ocean.
Accessible Workshops
I have devised a new method for recycling plastic waste on a portable T-shirt press for my accessible workshops and created lesson plans and content for these aswell. I have secured partners to run the workshops later on this year. We will run an adults “Plastic Recycling Workshop” with SPACER in April and a second “Plastic Recycling Workshop” for adults with learning difficulties for East Kent Mencap in June/July.
I will also be running a new project called “Sustainable Geometry” with the charity MKIAC in Milton Keynes. In this project I will be running plastic recycling workshops with children at a local school. The children will create recycled plastic panels, which will be cut into geometric shapes and combined to create a new interactive light art work. The work will be exhibited at the library as part of the MKIAC light festival in October this year.
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Credits
Videography by Matthew Kaltenborn