The Marine Foundation’s New Eco Art Project – The Belize Sea Goddess

· by · in Communicating Sustainability, General, Innovation, leadership, longevity, Nature and business, Radical Innovation, worthy causes. ·

Please support The Belize Sea Goddess – a new and wonderful project in the living sculptures in the sea project by the Marine Foundation

Next month I will be joining the Marine Foundation for the second time to support their incredible work in marine conservation and eco-arts. We will be

The Oceans have been a vital source of renewable food since the birth of mankind, we depend on their health and well-being. Yet marine eco-systems all over the world are in rapid decline. The Marine Foundation’s approach is creative, innovative and positive enabling small scale but highly effective localised marine sustainability whilst engaging an international audience and galvanising people from a wide variety of sectors. We can be part of the solution and ensure a healthy ocean for all future generations.

Please take a minute to watch our crowd-funding video to meet the team and learn more about this project.

Your support could transform this project. Please help us to make this project happen by supporting our crowd-funding campaign. There are some exciting rewards available including the opportunity to join us in Belize for an underwater adventure diving with us as we take the Sea Goddess underwater to her new home. And of course please do help us to spread the word.

Here I am during the sinking of Apsara in Jemeluk Bay, Bali in October last year.

More about The Belize Sea Goddess and The Marine Foundation

The Marine Foundation was set up by Celia Gregory in 2009 following extensive research in the UK, Costa Rica, the Mediterranean, Egypt and Indonesia. After joining Celia in Bali last year I am delighted to be working with her as part of her Core Creative Team and are launching the creation of  a new living sculpture in the sea with an incredible sculptor, Toin Adams. We  have been approached by Captain Norian Lamb who represents the Dangriga fisherfolk from the Long Caye region  in Belize to initiate a new underwater gallery commencing with the installation of the Belize Sea Goddess.
Image result for the marine foundation
A large marine protected area  has recently been set-up and terminated their traditional fishing rights  which means they have lost their entire livelihood almost overnight.  They understand the need for protected areas but the reality is, how do they  earn a living when  their only practical knowledge and experience is of the sea which is their only resource? The plan is to create a dive site to which the fishermen can bring tourists and tell their story which will educate and spread awareness of the importance of caring for our natural resources whilst simultaneously creating a conscious and sustainable way for them to survive. The Marine Foundation is addressing this same problem with traditional fishing communities all over the world.  (For more details on our other projects and how this is done please visit www.themarinefoundation.org)

Belize  is a multi-ethnic nation whose major influences are  Mayan, Creole/Kriol, Garinagu (Garifuna -African)  as well as Latino / Spanish. Toin and Celia will draw on these rich and varied cultural roots to design an inspiring sea goddess. The sculpture  will be  created with the help of local artisans and fisherfolk to be sunk and positioned  in the stunning Belize sea. This process will galvanise their environmental effort as well as a way  for education  and raising of awareness.   The Goddess will  serve as a protector to the coral and all that live under the waves. The sculpture will not only look visually stunning but  provide habitat for fish and marine life.  The Belize Underwater Goddess will be the  first in a program of underwater artworks for the region.

The Marine Foundation has successfully installed a number of sculptures in Indonesia;  Apsara was our most recent artwork sunk in east Bali in October where we have established the Jemeluk Bay Underwater Gallery with the local fishing community and Reef Check Indonesia. We created a short mood film  after our previous successful crowd-funder with Indiegogo.  You can watch   Apsara spirits of the sea.

In June 2011, The Marine Foundation  installed the Coral Goddess in Pemuteran, an award winning coral restoration project where the local community have managed to restore their local reef and bring it back to life, creating a thriving Eco-tourism destination.       

The Marine Foundation is  thrilled to be taking its work to a new continent and are really keen to ask for your support. Together we can make a stunning work of art and help a community make a vital transition to becoming guardians of their marine treasures. We all benefit knowing we are putting in place innovative practices that will improve and maintain the health of our sea for  all future generations. Please donate or help spread the word.

We are working to a tight timeframe; presently Toin and Celia working on the designs and organising the preparation for our arrival in Belize in mid May. The work will be created and installed during our two week stay. We have an amazing team and we are thrilled to invite you on this extra-ordinary journey.

Donations will support the travel, expenses and creation of the Belize Underwater Goddess and the initiation of the under water gallery. This campaign will effect lives locally as well as generating amazing imagery that will promote a sustainable and creative relationship with our marine treasures around the world.

About the Marine foundation

Celia Gregory is a sculptor from UK, an internationally acclaimed artist and founder of the Marine Foundation. Since 2012 Celia is a member of the Ocean Artists Society. The Marine foundation is funded by the Roddick foundation, Artist Project Earth, Body Shop Indonesia and PATA Foundation. In the past 5 years, the foundation has created and installed underwater sculptures in four key locations in Indonesia in areas where the coral reefs were badly damaged and worked in close collaboration with acclaimed scientists, environmental NGOs, local artists and stakeholders. The most famous of the sculptures, The Coral Goddess http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Coral-Goddess within the Karang Lestari Bio-rock reef regeneration project in Pemuteran, Bali, won a UNDP award for marine conservation. For more info about the partners, please visit http://www.reefcheck.or.id, http://www.coral.org. The project with PATA foundation can be viewed at  http://www.patafoundation.org/?p=1064

For more information on the Marine Foundation and The Belize Sea Goddess please contact louisa.harris@6-heads.com or info@themarinefoundation.org

 If you have a project you would like to share with our community, an event you would like to host or an idea you would like to blog about then we would love to hear from you. Please email me at louisa.harris@6-heads.com for more information.

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