Below the Surface 2012

The Catawba River and surrounding lakebeds in the Charlotte area, like bodies of water throughout the U.S. is revered for its beauty and recreation but it is also facing shocking environmental challenges.  Chemicals known as polychlorinated biphenyls or PCB’s have leached their way into the wildlife ecosystem of the river more specifically among large mouth bass and Channel Catfish.  This contamination has become so elevated that numerous signs are posted altering fisherman not to eat these fish due to the health hazard. In particular Large mouth bass and Channel Catfish. PCB's can lead to a host of health hazards from adversely impacting the neurological development of children to effecting the reproductive and immune systems of adults. Groups such as the Catawba River Keepers are working to combat this daunting problem, working to insure the health and longevity for the ecosystem as well as those who enjoy it.

In creating this work I wanted to at first catch the attention of the passerby with colorful, streamline and abstract forms that playfully radiate light from outside daylight.  I would hope to further garner the curiosity of the viewer to investigate the structural makeup and contents of these abstracted fish forms—Questioning what they are all about and “getting below the surface” of their visual nature.  I want to fuse together the micro world of the PCB compound structure and the macro world of the larger Catawba River ecosystem.