IN THE WAVES by artist Melissa McGill, was a series of live free public art performances and a part of NRF’s Keeping History Above Water initiative. The project was sited specifically for the large open landscape between the ocean and the built environment, as we imagine the rising sea connecting the two. McGill invited members of the community to activate the landscape and evoke the urgency of rising sea levels and a rapidly changing environment. The ensemble of this movement-based public artwork created a shared meaningful experience about environmental themes.
McGill painted 50 wave paintings, ranging from 25’-45’over the course of two weeks in a temporary studio on site where she was able to observe the ocean each day as well as the changes in light and weather. The paintings were fashioned on a textile made of ocean-recycled-trash, donated to the artist by Parley for the Oceans, an environmental conservation organization dedicated to protecting the oceans. The paintings were then activated by an ensemble of performances from August 18-28th 2021.
