“Without a healthy ocean, we don’t have a healthy planet.” says Richard Vevers, an underwater Photographer speaking in the Netflix Original Documentary: Chasing Coral.
As many of us are aware, our planet is heating up. Scientists have stated that after 10,000 years of climatic stability, we have now entered into an age known as the Anthropocene, an age dominated by humans. The average temperature of our planet has risen more each year and has now surpassed 1 degree Celsius, a rise which is causing devastating effects on all living things. Since the early 1980s, corals have been demonstrating their stress to the heat through a process known as bleaching, where large sections of reef turn white in a matter of weeks. The late coral reef biologist Dr. Ruth Gates mentions in the documentary that bleaching is a stress response much like a fever in humans. She and Richard Vevers explain that the flesh of the animal becomes clear and what we see, in fact, is the white skeleton underneath. In a horrifyingly beautiful and desperate attempt to shield themselves from the heat, some species of coral emit vibrant colors as a form of chemical sunscreen. As an artist, Kiara has taken liberties with the forms of the corals themselves and has chosen to focus on the language of heat stroke: colorless, brilliant white, cobalt blue, lime green, and vibrant purple.
*A portion of the proceeds from every sale of this body of work will be donated to marine science.
