IN 2017 St Joseph’s Regional College student Kaitlin Smith expressed her feelings towards the threat of the Great Barrier Reef with art.
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Her sculpture, titled Dead in the water: shelving the plans for the Great Barrier Reef, has earned an entry into a prestigious art exhibition.
ARTEXPRESS is held annually and features a selection of outstanding student artworks developed for the art making component of the HSC.
It includes a broad range of approaches and expressive forms, including ceramics, collection of works, documented forms, drawing, graphic design, painting, photomedia, printmaking, sculpture, textiles and fibre, and time-based forms.
Kaitlin said the reef is a natural wonder: a complex miracle assembled over half a million years.
“But unfortunately, this icon of natural beauty has a very uncertain future,” she said.
“There are distinct threats, including climate change, poor water quality from runoff, illegal fishing, the Crown of Thorns starfish, marine debris, coastal development and oil spills from shipping.
“We have known of these threats for some time, yet to a large extent we have turned our backs and allowed the damage to continue.
“In many ways my work is a celebration and a commemoration. My hope is that the reef will live on.”
Her work will be on display this week as part of the ARTEXPRESS exhibit at the Art Gallery of NSW in Sydney.