FINALIST, Chloe Kortie
For this stencil design, I had a single goal in spreading the message about Miami’s storm drains – to offer a simple choice instead of an overwhelming problem. I chose to carry this out with a story about the ocean creatures right here in Miami. Some species of sea turtles are endangered, and trash washed up near Biscayne Bay makes it very difficult for newly hatched sea turtles to reach the ocean. With this stencil design, I focused on making a turtle the center of the piece, as he tries to escape the sea of trash around him. When people see my design, instead of thinking about how to stop all of the trash from building up and hurting the whole Biscayne Bay, I hope to show that each time someone chooses to take their empty container to the recycling bin or trash can, a single turtle like this one’s life could be saved. This idea that throwing trash into the bins is the better choice is conveyed using simple shapes, patterns, and a sans serif font. First, the turtle, the main feature of this work, is surrounded by trash - then the details on the turtle’s back show the storm drains’ link to the ocean. Altogether, the specific story told by the icons and trash is meant to speak metaphorically about the smaller-scale effects of each piece of trash on the individual creatures in Biscayne Bay.
