“Starfish. Future Sea” is a realistic oil painting rendered in inverted colours, depicting a negative scenario: due to global warming, we may lose coral reefs as we know them today. In a possible future, corals may exist only as records – accessible through books or digital screens – rather than as living ecosystems. Due to inverted colours, the image of the coral is realistic and untrue at the same time. The painting’s true colouration can only be accessed through a negative filter or camera application, preventing direct perception and prompting the viewer to engage with a possible future mode of remembering lost species through technological mediation. This emerging project seeks to raise awareness and sensitize viewers to ecological challenges, particularly the impact of climate change on coral reef systems and their risk of extinction.
