Blue Atlas is a site-specific wall installation about climate change and the ocean currently on view at the University of Rhode Island's Studio Blue Gallery. Through cartographic abstraction, it explores an epic sea change underway as the world’s oceans heat up.

 

The 8 x 13 foot artwork is made with ink, pencils, and markers on illuminated drafting film and Yupo paper. Blue Atlas was inspired by my partnership with Svenja Ryan, a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who uses NASA satellite maps to study ocean currents and warming trends. Overall, marine temperatures are on the rise. Our oceans absorb 90% of the excess heat produced by greenhouse gases, which are fueling severe weather, flooding, beach erosion, and disruptions in marine ecosystems.