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Volvo Ocean Race organisers hosted a beach clean on Lulu Island yesterday with the collected rubbish becoming the raw materials for a sculpture that is to be created this week at the Destination Village in Abu Dhabi. Held in each host port throughout the nine-month, 39,000-nautical mile race, and in conjunction with art group Skeleton Sea, the Volvo Ocean Race is spearheading a call to arms to reduce pollution and share a simple message through its Keep the Oceans Clean! initiative.
More than 80 members of the Abu Dhabi community and Volvo Ocean Race family of different ages and nationalities participated in the morning beach clean along with local dive centre Al Mahara. The more adventurous of the participants were able to kayak or paddle-board out to the island where they collected rubbish from the shoreline.
Jacqui Smith, project coordinator for Keep the Oceans Clean!, said:
“It was fantastic to see so many people participating in the Abu Dhabi Beach Clean, showing the commitment we have to maintaining the natural beauty of our oceans and beaches. With the rubbish haul collected yesterday, our Skeleton Sea artist is well on the way to turning flotsam and jetsam into a stunning sculpture to be created this week (8-14 January) at the Destination Village Abu Dhabi. Adults and children alike can get involved in the artistic action by attending the art workshops where they will have the chance to make their own individual contribution to the unique installation.”
João Parrinha, Skeleton Sea artist, said:
“The beach clean was a great success, with lots of people turning up to help us collect the rubbish. We’ve been getting as much rubbish as we can so we can make a fish sculpture for display in the Destination Village. In the workshops we’ll be making the fish’s scales with the kids. It’s amazing to work with them: what they do and what they create is very unexpected and wildly creative. It’s a lot of fun to work with them."
Rubbish and debris collected by the group will go towards Volvo Ocean Race’s Keep the Oceans Clean! art workshop campaign, an initiative organised in collaboration with international artist-activists, Skeleton Sea. Beach rubbish, including old plastic bottles, wrappers and other beach trash plus weathered and dead materials, are brought back to life by the group to form skeleton-like art.
Three of Skeleton Sea’s fantastic sculptures will be on exhibition in the Destination Village in Abu Dhabi until the end of the stopover on January 14. Parrinha, one of the Skeleton Sea artists who headed up the beach clean at Lulu Island, will be holding the Keep the Oceans Clean! workshops on the beach in the Destination Village every afternoon from January 8-14.
On January 9 at 8pm, the artist will give a talk on the story behind Skeleton Sea - their background, the artwork and their values. There will also be an opportunity to watch the short film created by Skeleton Sea called ’Albatross Exhibitionist’ which tells the compelling story of the thousands of albatrosses that are killed each year because they fatally mistake floating rubbish for food.
The beach clean was successfully coordinated with support from Al Mahara Diving Centre, Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club, Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi, CNIA (Critical National Infrastructure Authority), Emirates Diving Association and the Center for Waste Management.
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