Our Expanding Oceans

January 25 - May 13, 2013

We invite you to take a look at artist Mary Edna Fraser’s masterful depiction of one of America’s oldest cities in Boston II. Rarely does one see the ocean represented in such an unnatural color. The ocean, dominating the artwork in a mixture of reds, oranges, and yellows, is portrayed as a roiling, fiery expanse. We see Boston on the distant horizon represented in cool shades of blue and indigo, almost like a David to the ocean’s Goliath. Yet, Fraser deliberately created this dynamic contrast. By portraying the ocean as an uncontrollable giant, Fraser is illustrating how Earth’s waters are changing as the world’s temperatures continue to warm.

This piece is one of 36 included in Our Expanding Oceans, an exciting exhibition scheduled to open at the Museum on January 25, 2013 that highlights the expansion of our planet’s waters in areas ranging from New Orleans to Venice to the Atafu Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Fraser works with aerial and satellite photographs of at-risk landscapes, transferring them onto dyed silk, called batik. Created in partnership with renowned geoscientist Dr. Orrin Pilkey, this exhibit uses art to educate us on the unseen ways climate change is affecting many sites across our planet.