Afterlife

Afterlife, 2021
graphite on paper
78 x 100 cm

Known commonly as bubble weed or oyster thief, Colpomenia sinuosa is a curious local underwater plant that grows on small rocks and shells, sometimes lifting them off the riverbed or seafloor and transporting them to new locations. Colponemia produces oxygen during photosynthesis that becomes trapped in its membranous lobes, making it a buoyant and occasionally mobile plant. Rendered in graphite using the technique of chiaroscuro (‘light- dark’), Afterlife speculates on a possible distant future for my bones, which are identifiable by the various fractures over my life and by my wedding band. In this scenario, my skeletal remains - no longer of use to me - become a hard substrate onto which the ‘oyster thief’ can grow and draw nourishment. While seemingly morbid, there is optimism in the notion that humans could enact an exchange with marine lifeforms in the future that offers positive benefit, as opposed to the currently one-sided extraction of natural resources. It is also darkly comforting to imagine my bones slowly dispersed throughout watery realms, providing habitat to flora and fauna. ~ Erin Coates