white hot
collaboration with Richard Dana
Artists and Makers, Rockville, MD
2016

This installation, made with Richard Dana, documents the ongoing destruction of coral reefs around the world. As the water around them warms, the microscopic creatures that live on the surface of the coral and give it its characteristic vibrant colors die off, leaving the coral bleached white. When this happens in repeated years, the corals die. Large sections of the Great Barrier Reef off the Australian coast are now bleached.

Healthy reefs serve the invaluable ecological function of providing habitat and nourishment for sea life, including the fish that support local indigenous communities. The loss of the reefs causes not just ecological but also deep human loss.