Corallation focuses around the idea of making a mobile “living” reef above the ocean’s surface by creating a small garden within a modern artistic rendition of a coral reef. My hope is to convey three major themes through work:
1) the living aspect of the work symbolizes how humans must acknowledge their effects on coral reefs if reefs are to continue to survive in the future;
2) the work’s mobility symbolizes how coral reefs are affected by human actions no matter where humans are located; and
3) the organic residue left by the garden's plants symbolizes the long-term effects of excess nutrient densities in reef environments caused by agricultural runoff.
Corallation is about five feet in diameter and four feet tall. The bottom half of the work consists of randomly arranged black, grey, and white polygons (pointed geometric shapes). The top half is orange with “polyps” about three to four inches wide, and each polyp has a fabric flower on top. Four different species of living plants are installed in the middle of the top of the reef.
Alex Rovner
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Growing up along the South Carolina coast, local wildlife sparked Alex’s interest in the environment from a young age. Alex spent a large portion of his teen years doing volunteer work in Loggerhead sea turtle conservation, which exposed him to the ecological consequences of greenhouse gas emissions and anthropogenic global warming. This project seeks to further illustrate the effects of these destructive human actions on another vital member of marine ecosystems: coral reefs.
ARTIST BIO
CORELLATION:
a floral reef connecting
life above and below the ocean's surface