It rolled in in marvellous technicolour last week, ready for an absolute tour-de-force of an exhibition in Lagos Marina.
The sculpture dubbed “A Waste of a Dolphin” was put together by artist, film ‘fixer’ and multi-tasking talent BJ Boulter as a way of highlighting concerns over plastic pollution.
Made entirely out of discarded plastic, it decorates Pontoon J and is designed to steer people towards the rest of the show, entitled “Listen to the Ocean” and part of a wider initiative powered by Marlagos and CIMA, the centre for marine investigation at the University of the Algarve.
Lyrical canvases, worrying triptyches – the work inside all sets out to amplify the message that our oceans need our help.
As BJ explained when we first highlighted the project, the idea came from a voyage into Durban, South Africa, by boat many moons ago.
She told us: ““ Sailing into the harbour in the morning light the water was glittering like the country’s famous diamonds, but no! … it was a sea of plastic bottles. Beautiful and shocking. The state of the oceans has inspired me through art to visualize how we also contribute – every day”.
“Listen to the Ocean” comes as the world is increasingly waking up to the warning that ‘time is running out’ on so many levels.
But last Saturday, at the Vernissage, focus was much more on how one 70-something-powerhouse-of-energy had managed to create so much when everyone who knows her knows how much else she runs at the same time.
“Listen to the Ocean” will be showing at Lagos Marina until mid-July, at which point there are plans to take “A Waste of a Dolphin” to other marinas along the coast.
