ART ON THE PLAZA: Marnie Sinclair

“Single-use plastics” (SUPs) represent 50% of all plastic produced, are used once and thrown away. The impact of plastic waste on the environment and human health are drastic. Every year, over ten million tons of plastic enter the oceans. Plastics then breakdown into microplastics and are consumed by humans and wildlife. It’s been estimated plastic pollution kills 100,000 marine mammals – like Seamore the Seal - annually.

Kin was inspired by an unborn North Atlantic right whale calf that died with its mother from a ship strike off the coast of Virginia in 2005. Their skeletons hang inside the New Bedford Whaling Museum. The North Atlantic right whale is critically endangered. Today, there are about 335, and under 70 breeding females. Kin offers an opportunity for reflection about the human impact on marine mammals. By referencing familial bonds and generational loss, this emotional work inspires compassion toward these threatened creatures.

Marnie Sinclair (b. 1945) is a process artist and environmental activist who often uses her art to visually express the many complicated issues that surround climate change and ocean pollution. Sinclair was raised in the tropics, then lived and worked on Martha’s Vineyard, and now resides in Damariscotta on the Southern coast of Maine. In each location, she finds inspiration in the shorelines and native wildlife. Kin and Seamore the Seal are inspired by her deep concern over sustainability and marine mammal health. For their sake and our own, Sinclair exhorts audiences to aim for a more sustainable existence. As she notes, “All living beings deserve it!”