HONOLULU, Hawaii, August 30, 2015 (PangeaSeed) – PangeaSeed, the international marine conservation organization, in collaboration with 1xRUN, Tony Delfino, and World Art Destinations, hosted the second annual summer series of its groundbreaking mural festival, Sea Walls: Murals for Oceans. The festival took place from July 17 – 26, 2015, creatively beautifying the Caribbean island of Cozumel, Mexico, while bringing education, connection, and inspiration to the community. Within the span of 5 days, 35 large-scale public murals were realized throughout Cozumel’s town center, addressing pressing marine environmental issues such as shark finning, over fishing, coastal development, climate change, and coral reef conservation. This series of Sea Walls murals helps educate and raise greatly needed awareness within the local and tourist communities for the plight of our ocean and the life that calls it home.
In addition to the realization of the murals, the artists had the opportunity to immerse themselves into and experience the various marine ecosystems of Cozumel Island, and learn from local experts about environmental challenges they are facing. The team also had the chance to both witness endangered sea turtles lay their eggs, as well as help release sea turtle hatchlings into the ocean.
Throughout the week, PangeaSeed team members facilitated youth educational activities where the island’s local kids were able to learn about the importance of marine animals such as sharks, turtles, and dolphins whilst making arts and crafts from reclaimed materials.
Furthermore, a public screening of award-winning documentary film México Pelágico attracted over 200 residents to the main square of Cozumel. The film highlights the vast diversity of marine biodiversity in Mexico, the challenges, and pioneering efforts to help sustain the health of the ocean ecosystem in Mexico.
PangeaSeed’s Sea Walls: Murals for Oceans is the first movement of its kind helping to save our seas via public art and activism (ARTivism). The festival featured over 50 contemporary artists from across the globe, collaborating to bring vital ocean environmental issues into the spotlight. Sea Walls: Murals for Oceans aims to educate and inspire individuals and communities to protect the planet’s most important ecosystem: the ocean.
“The power of public art and activism has the ability to educate and inspire the global community to help save our seas. No matter where you are in the world, the ocean supplies us with every second breath we take and life on Earth cannot exist without healthy oceans. With dwindling global fish stocks, rising sea levels, and widespread pollution, whether you live on the coast, in the city or in the mountains, we should all feel responsible for the health of the oceans and life that lives within it,” says PangeaSeed Executive Director Tre’ Packard.
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