In honor of World Oceans Day, June 8th, 2018, Underwater artivist and SEVENSEAS Media Distinguished Artist Christine Ren, known as The Underwater Woman, and photographer, Chiara Salomoni of Mermaids for Change, teamed up to create otherworldly underwater sets to convey the effects of elevated atmospheric C02 dissolving into seawater that initiates chemical reactions transforming the ocean into a more acidic state.
Image Credits: Christine Ren as The Underwater Woman and Chiara Salomoni of Mermaids for Change
In this latest media campaign titled, “Carbonated Ocean,” The Underwater Woman art directs and performs underwater in an ethereal, narrative photography series that highlights the effects of and solutions to ocean acidification.
Referred to by some scientists as osteoporosis of the sea, ocean acidification is undeniably climate change’s evil twin that hardly anyone understands or has even heard of. The effects of changing ocean chemistry are tragic, causing both coral reefs and the skeletons and shells of marine organisms to dissolve.
Ren’s concern for the issue receiving little media attention continued to increase, so she partnered with the talented underwater photographer Chiara Salomoni based in Los Angeles, CA to craft images that could help garner science support for this issue in honor of World Oceans Day.
The pair staged the underwater sets in a dive shop’s pool with a team of enthusiastic volunteers joining to help with the prop- and costume-intensive shoot. Both Ren and Salomoni worked for 8 hours in the water staging the sets and diving down 10 feet repeatedly on breathhold to capture the shots of a human figure holding dissolving shells.
Additionally, the pair coupled the image series with an emotionally-evocative behind-the-scenes video that has received 30,000 views and nearly 400 likes in the first week of launching alone. The video empowers individuals to help mitigate ocean acidification by reducing their meat consumption since animal agriculture’s carbon and methane gas emissions are some of the key drivers of climate change. In the video, Ren finishes by saying:
“If the health and fate of our ocean is so intertwined with ours, I know I want to be able to say that I’m investing in a future for both of us.”
Watch the Carbonated Ocean video from Christine Ren on Vimeo here:
See more of Christine’s work on SEVENSEAS Media by visiting her Distinguished Artist pages Jellyfish Soup Silent Killers featuring previous projects.
Named 1 of 6 women in media changing the world by Matador Network, The Underwater Woman, Christine Ren, is a filmmaker and underwater performer dedicated to advancing social and environmental causes. She holds her Master’s degree in Marine Affairs and Policy from the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) and offers underwater movement and photography workshops in destinations around the world to help fund ocean conservation. To-date, her narrative underwater imagery campaigns have been featured to-date by Nat Geo, KQED, FStoppers, Petapixel, Phoblographer, and more. Her work embodies the idea that ocean conservation is a human issue.
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This piece was edited and posted onto SEVENSEAS Media by Giacomo Abrusci.