Science or art — which is the more powerful way to learn and communicate about our relationship to the natural world? Studies in neuroscience tell us that emotional inputs from the visual and performing arts make learning experiences more memorable and exciting. Presenting science in traditional scientific ways alone is less likely to result in long-term changes in our feelings and behaviors.
This painting is part of Seascapes of the 21st Century, an exhibition of some of my work at the Science Museum of Virginia on display through May 2025. Human activities introduce megatons of plastics and nutrients, primarily nitrogen and phosphorus, into aquatic ecosystems each year. The exhibition focuses attention on this tidal wave of pollutants entering oceans and seas and negatively impacting the environment and human health.
Chinook Salmon Blues
by Eugene Maurakis
Chinook Salmon
Oncorhynchus tshawytscha.
Researchers report that plastic fiber particles are in the guts of 25% of Chinook salmon sampled on the West Coast of the U.S. The amount of plastic in oceans, currently 170 trillion pieces, has doubled every six years since 2005.
Message in a message? Can you find “SOS” written in Morse code in the multicolored dabs of paint over the Chinook salmon?
The small, multicolored dabs of paint represent plastic particles. They are painted in swirls to depict oceanic currents and gyres.