Saltwaters: Bridging Worlds / Acque salate
Saltwaters: Bridging Worlds / Acque salate
'Saltwaters' is a new collection of “storytelling” glass vessels, hand crafted by Italo-Australian creative artist, Sabrina Dowling Giudici, specifically proposed for the 2024 Venice Glass Week. This series of glass-fused objects celebrates seagrasses as the unsung heroes of the sea. The focus is on seagrasses found in both the lagoon of Venice in the Mediterranean Sea of the Northern Hemisphere, and the Shark Bay World Heritage area of Western Australia in the Indian Ocean of the Southern Hemisphere. Morphological highlights of resident seagrass species define the form of the glass vessels, as well as the characteristics of the geographical locations.
This glass series aims to bring together the seagrasses of these two fundamentally different geographical, ecological and cultural places, thus bridging the two worlds through the narratives of the glass objects. They aim to further inspire awe in the beauty of nature, increase ecological awareness, and invite audience members to modify their behaviour in light of the human impact on oceans.
Evolving from primordial saltwaters to land, seagrasses are the only flowering plants to return to the sea. Here they have a fundamental role in the creation of precious oxygen, contributing significantly to the air humans breathe. Equally, they sequester copious amounts of carbon dioxide, alongside their habitat function as vital marine nurseries, and in coastal protection, pathogen reduction, and nutrient recycling.
There are approximately 72 species of seagrasses, globally; four are home in the lagoon of Venice, and twelve reside in Shark Bay. Abstract representation of their morphological features, from the microscopic to full scale, are the basis of the forms, textures, colours of the glass vessels. Highlighted botanical features are unique leaf forms, cellular spatial formations, microscopic cross-sections of the important underground rhizomes, the venous flow structure, and sunlight responsive colour-patterns.
As a narrative art collection, the accompanying story of each glass object aims to highlight a salient ecological or biological process relevant to human health and wellbeing, inviting the audience to reflect, and hopefully celebrate the interconnectedness of humans and their habitats.
Sabrina uses photomicrography to observe and record patterns at the cellular level. She aesthetically translates them into glass, referencing patterns from her artisanal family’s heritage in lace-making, and also from terrazzo floor making. Expressing natural sciences in 3D in both a visual and tactile way has become an instinctive practice. Each vessel is made with crushed glass, in layers, and reworked multiple times to direct light transmissions through alternating levels of transparencies between opaline and translucent glasses.
The defining characteristics of this glass art series are the lace-like, tactile surfaces, the light-bending transparencies, and the speckled terrazzo effect of the crushed glass used to create each object. The visual language is tightly executed with continuity from each glass object to the next one in the installation. At all times, the perforated glass surfaces include air gaps as an integral part of the presentation of the artwork, an invitation to focus on the contribution of all seagrass meadows to the vitality of human breathing.
The Venice Glass Week 2024 - A World Of Glass
14-22 September 2024
Saltwaters by Sabrina Dowling Giudici (Australia)
Oresi Gallery
San Polo 62
Sotoportego de Rialto
Venice 30125, ITALY
Free entry/No reservations required
10am-6pm daily
Italian/English spoken – Wheelchair access for patrons
“Sunny”
In their own right, the Halophila species (paddleweeds) have a delightful shape and surprisingly different from the elongated leaf blades we immediately think of as seagrass. The Sunny series of glass vessels, highlights the ability of seagrasses to ‘grow their own sunscreen’ in the form of UV-blocking pigments. The purple colouring found on Seagrasses, particularly those growing in shallow waters, indicates the presence of the photoprotection, hence the use of speckled glass to anchor the colour palettes of these artworks. Seagrasses are amongst the most light sensitive plants on the planet so this light-blocking adaptation minimises photodamage and leaf maintenance costs.
The conservation message associated with Sunny is to influence sunscreen purchasing choices to water-habitat safe brands. People are often unaware that sunscreens can contain a number of chemicals harmful to marine life, highly toxic to micro-organisms. Here is a list that you can copy and paste onto your smartphone so you can check the labels of your next sunscreen purchase – avoid:
Oxybenzone, Benzophenone-1, Benzophenone-8, OD-PABA, 4-Methylbenzylidene camphor, 3-Benzylidene camphor, nano-Titanium dioxide, nano-Zinc oxide, Octinoxate, Octocrylene. (Refer https://www.reefcheckaustralia.org/ )
Alternatively, look for those labelled as ‘reef safe’. Hopefully, this artwork also encourages being sun smart at all times.