Art with a message at beach

Our Seas Our Future events co-ordinator Alice Dee (far left) and her friend Grace McKee Cagney ...
Our Seas Our Future events co-ordinator Alice Dee (far left) and her friend Grace McKee Cagney (far right), joined by members of the community and the Otago Students Art Association, show off the maui dolphin they created using rubbish collected from a Dunedin beach during a clean-up at the weekend. PHOTO: LINDA ROBERTSON
If you thought you spotted a maui dolphin at a Dunedin beach at the weekend, that was a pile of rubbish.

Our Seas Our Future and the Otago Students Art Association teamed up for a beach clean-up with an artistic flair.

About 30 people from the Dunedin community showed up to collect rubbish off St Kilda Beach on Saturday.

Everything from prams and car seats to drink cans and bottles were found during the two-hour event.

The items, which filled about five large Keep Dunedin Beautiful bags, were colour co-ordinated and then transformed into a life-size maui dolphin, which are found on the North Island’s west coast and have a population of just 55.

Our Seas Our Future Dunedin regional co-ordinator Marissa Kelderman said it was an interactive way to raise awareness of endangered ocean wildlife.

Incorporating art also helped to bring everyone together and highlighted the effect humans could have on animals, events co-ordinator Alice Dee said.

The grey- and white-coloured rubbish created the dolphin, and green bottles were used as seaweed.

Prizes were also up for grabs throughout the day, including Blue Penguins Pukekura tickets.

The rubbish bags were collected by the Dunedin City Council for disposal after the event.

Comments

Well done and thank you. We must all do what we can to help save our collapsing ecosystems. Reduce pollution, stop eating seafood and support marine reserves are essential in protecting the marine biodiversity.

 

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