The face of a giant bathing woman seems to rise up from the icy waters of an undisclosed Arctic location beside the fragmented remains of a rapidly melting glacier, snow-capped mountains in the distance. That there are no other obvious signs of human activity in the lonely landscape scene only reinforces the sense that this figure is out of place. For Sean Yoro, the surfboard-balancing artist otherwise known as Hula, she’s putting a human face on a very pressing global problem.
Having built a name for himself painting serene portraits of women in waterside locations and even onto the rusting remains of an abandoned ship, Yoro impresses both with his skills as an artist and the novelty of his method. While he normally paints in situ, this new setting required a different approach, and he painted on acrylic panels instead, mounting them on chunks of ice.
The paintings are designed to dissolve over time (presumably in a way that won’t harm the environment, given the earth-centric message of this piece), highlighting the time-sensitive nature of this issue.
“In the short time I was there, I witnessed the extreme melting rate first hand as the sound of ice cracking was ac instant background noise while painting,” says Yoro. “Within a few weeks these murals will be forever gone, but for those who find them, I hope they ignite a sense of urgency, as they represent the millions of people in need of our help who are already being afflicted from the rising sea levels of climate change.”
