Terra Mutare

The future of the Great Barrier reef looks bleak, to say the least. Now up to a quarter of the reef is dead. A friend and I entered into the annual Tapestry Design Competition in Australia, with an entry focusing on this tragedy.

I'll let the submitted text explain:

The Material of the Australian Landscape
Our entry Terra Mutare employs the use of tapestry as a narrative device to tell a story of Australian’s complex and often fraught relationship with nature. We have chosen the ongoing destructive bleaching of coral in the Great Barrier Reef as our subject matter.

Tapestries have long been used as a means of recording a linear narrative in a permanent and durable medium. Read from left to right, tapestries such as the Bayeux Tapestry reveal sequences of events telling stories of war, royalty and religion. Similarly, Australian art from indigenous ‘dot paintings’ to Pro Hart commonly reveal the unique and intertwined relationship that Australians have with nature. Today, arguably Australia’s most famous landscape, the Great Barrier Reef is facing the largest threat in its existence. Due to climate change and increased shipping; irreversible bleaching (permanent discolouration) of the reef is fast advancing.

As of 2016, approximately 90% of the reef has been affected by bleaching (Ref: ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies). At once beautiful yet devastating, where typically Australians have romanticized our relationship with nature, we have chosen to depict the often destructive aspect we (humans) have had on our landscape.

Fabricating Data
Using real GIS data, we have created a map showing the extent of bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef. Bleached areas, shipping routes, coal repositories and climate data is shown. Intended to be read as a linear sequence from left to right, we have orientated the map horizontally from north to south (from the most damaged (red) to least damaged (green). Whist GIS data is usually represented digitally (and more often than not viewed on a screen), the medium of tapestry imbues permanence to the data collected - a reminder of the permanence of damage. We propose parallel tapestries to be made in intervals every 20 years, serving as a means of documenting the irreversible damage to the reef. The first of which, in 2036, will coincide with the point the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies estimates 100% of the reef will have been affected by bleaching. By capturing the beauty in devastation; our tapestry serves as a permanent reminder of the mutations we have imposed upon the reef.