Exhibits
Hold Fast
Hold Fast
Hold Fast is a powerful and immersive art exhibition that invites us to explore the impact of climate change on our local kelp forest through the lens of local artists and scientists. It challenges our ideas of what climate work can include by bridging the worlds of art and science, and offers the opportunity to explore how our talents can be harnessed as we work together to protect our ocean. Hold Fast will run through Labor Day 2024
Featured Artists and Scientists
Explore a labyrinth of cyanotype-printed giant kelp by photo-based artist and marine scientist Oriana Poindexter, come face to face with local species via gyotaku prints by artist Dwight Hwang and peer into the tiny world of kelp propagation with Scripps Oceanography PhD student Mohammad Sedarat.
Oriana Poindexter
Oriana Poindexter is an artist and marine scientist who is documenting the changes in La Jolla’s local kelp forests through photo-based artwork. In Hold Fast, her life-sized cyanotype prints on fabric create a stunning kelp forest for guests to explore without getting wet.
Dwight Hwang
Dwight Hwang is a classic Japanese gyotaku artist who aims to tell stories through his animal and fish prints. In Hold Fast, his prints will focus on local kelp forest animals found off La Jolla shores, allowing guests to get an even closer view of these fascinating species.
Mohammad Sedarat
Mohammad Sedarat is a PhD Student at the Smith Lab at Scripps Oceanography whose research explores the impact of climate change on La Jolla’s kelp forest. In Hold Fast, his work demonstrates why critical giant kelp ecosystems have not returned since recent marine heatwaves and explores what we can do to bring them back through genetic banking and propagation.
Additional Artists
Adi Khen is an artist and postdoctoral scholar at Scripps Oceanography, using researcher Jennifer Smith’s seaweed pressings. Their work Natural Beauty in Repetition is a kaleidoscopic digital artwork that features Dictyota coriacea (forkweed) and Plocamium pacificum (sea comb).
Itamar Lilienthal is a Tijuana- and London-based artist and inventor whose work bridges art, sustainability and culture. They designed and made lanterns entirely from sustainably harvested Macrocystis pyrifera (Giant Kelp). Dried stipe (the kelp “stem”) forms the frame, and a pressed kelp “paper” comprises the glowing surface.