Art Activism From Knitters to Coral Reef Sculptures

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Better, Smarter Bombs

Creating Graffiti with Yarn NYTimes

Better, Smarter Bombs

Creating Graffiti with Yarn NYTimes

Yarn bombers cover Rocky statue at Philadelphia Museum of ArtAs Arnold Schwarzenneger makes plans to star in not one but two new terminator movies — while writing the story of his life as a children’s book for young boys — yarn bombers continue to fight back against testosterone-drench machismo.

Here in Philadelphia Jessie Hemmons was so irked with the macho, touristy nature of Rocky, she encouraged visitors to go see the art and not only have their photo op with the famous movie icon.

Also called yarn storming and gramdma graffiti, the global phenomenon is more feminine, says Ms Hemmons.  We’ve covered yarn bombing twice at AOC, including a video of a late-night yarn bombing of Wall Street’s charging bull.

There is an activist symbolism attached to yarn bombing. Months after the bull was bombed and the world is stunned over allegations that former International Monetary Fund head Dominique Kahn-Strauss sexually assaulted a maid, many global leaders say it’s time estrogen in the global financial markets.

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FromJason deCaires Taylor Underwater Sculpture Project

Coral reefs attract an array of marine life (such as colourful fish, turtles, sea urchins, sponges, and sharks) and also provide enclosed spaces for sea creatures to breed or take refuge.

Only about 10 – 15% of the sea bed has a solid enough substratum to allow reefs to form naturally. In order to increase the number of reefs in these areas artificial reefs have recently been created from materials that are durable, secure and environmentally sensitive. These reefs appear to have been successful in that they have attracted coral growth which, in turn, can support an entire marine ecosystem.

One of the greatest benefits of artificial reefs is that they have lifted the pressure off natural reefs which, over the past few decades, have been over-fished and over-visited.

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