“Despite painting sea for the better part of fifteen years, I had never lived in sight of the sea until moving to Athens, Greece, in 2021 – where I now spend part of my year. I started this project in a workspace which looked out over a great panorama: Piraeus port to the north, Vouliagmeni to the south, and the islet of Ydroussa in between (colloquially known as ‘black island,’ for the numerous times, decades ago, when it was covered by oil from run aground tankers on their approach to the nearby port). From here, I had expected to paint islands and coastlines, but instead found myself captivated by endless ever-changing light on water.

But a threat rests behind this picture. The result of sunlight on seawater (and the heat trapped in our atmosphere by a blanket of greenhouse gases) is the warming of that water. More than 90 percent of this heat goes into the sea. And as warming climbs exponentially, our planet’s oceans – also home to most of its life – won’t be able to store any more of it.

Every other breath we take comes from microscopic underwater organisms. That same water is absorbing nine times as much global warming as the world above the surface.

This series is a contemplation of sea surfaces, but also an invitation to look deeper. Some works painted using a monochrome palette – or displaying more contrast between dark and light – reference ice-cover at the North & South Poles. In these locations, we are faced with one of the most striking visuals of the climate crisis: a battle of light vs. dark. As we lose ice, we also lose its ability to reflect sunlight. In these works, the lighter marks represent ice, bouncing sunlight away and protecting the sea below.

The series is both a homage to our oceans, and springboard for wider discussion.”