Courtney Mattison / Aqueduct

What if climate change causes tropical sea creatures to migrate towards the poles and invade terrestrial spaces as seawater warms and sea levels rise? “Aqueduct” is a playful yet ominous exploration of this question, with hundreds of porcelain and stoneware corals, anemones, sponges and other marine invertebrates spilling into the gallery from a hand-carved porcelain air duct register, begging another question: Will we act urgently to halt climate change and keep the ocean in its place, or will we allow the sea to consume us?
Aqueduct is currently at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art through April 17 as part of artist and ocean advocate Courtney Mattison’s solo show, Sea Change.
2016 8 x 8 x 1 feet Glazed stoneware and porcelain
(Images by Glen McClure for Virginia MOCA)