Thinkspace Family artist, James Bullough just completed a beautiful mural ‘Pania of the Reef’ in Napier, New Zealand as a part of the Pangeaseed Foundation’s Sea Walls project. The mural was inspired by local Maori folklore depicting Pania a fierce protector of the waters off the coast of Napier. Read about James’s experience painting the mural in his own words below,
“I had the great honor of meeting with some of Pania’s direct descendants in the city of Napier and other local Maori historians and speak with them about the best way to depict Pania and tell her story through my mural. In working with Pangeaseed Foundation and the Sea Walls project on this mural, it was also my honor to highlight a pressing ocean conservation issue for which I chose to speak about, the acidification of our oceans. Due to man-made climate concerns, specifically, the rising CO2 levels in our atmosphere, the acidity levels of our oceans have risen and continue to rise at alarming rates killing our reefs and the delicate ecosystems around them worldwide. To illustrate this I have depicted Pania floating defiant and hopeful over her reef despite the fact that it is void of all life and she herself is dissolving from the dangerously high acid levels.”
We’re always amazed by the gorgeous work Bullough creates and can’t wait to have him as a featured artist in our upcoming return to Detroit for Inner State ‘LAX/DTW: Part II’ opening June 30th.
View more works from James Bullough here.
Photo credit: Tre @pangeaseed
