The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation is pleased to announce the finalists of the 2022 Science Without Borders® Challenge, our annual student art competition. This year we asked students to create a piece of art that illustrates one or more actions that governments, non-profits, park managers, and indigenous communities can take to preserve coral reefs using a ridge to reef approach to conservation. We are thrilled with the entries that we received!
We received 510 qualifying pieces of artwork from 49 different countries, so picking the finalists was a difficult decision. Ultimately, finalists were chosen based on how well the artwork exemplified this year’s theme, the quality of the artwork, and the creativity and originality of their artwork.
We hope you will be as impressed with the submissions we received as we were. Without further ado, here are the finalists for Ages 11-14 of the 2022 Science Without Borders® Challenge:
"The Breakable Shell" by Ji Yoon Park, Age 12, Republic of Korea
ARTIST'S STATEMENT: My artwork is representing the future where efforts will be made to help protect coral reefs. I found out that ocean acidification is caused by pollution and global warming. During the process, CO2 is mixed with water to make carbonic acid, preventing coral from regenerating its skeleton, resulting in bleached coral. To portray that, I made the negative actions dull, while I made the beneficial and helpful actions colorful. I drew a glass dome over the coral reef almost like a second shell that is protecting it from the negative things. I depicted the coral as hands because they have the purpose of protecting coastlines from erosion and storms. The hands symbolize control but also the urgent need for help. Furthermore, instead of simply cleaning coastlines, I used fisherman and scuba divers to show how we can help. I’m showing that our actions from land shouldn’t negatively affect coral reefs.
