50cm x 70cm - 2019

Cotton swabs, acrylic, crystal resin

Justin Hoffman’s photo, that portrays a seahorse clinging to a cotton swab, inspired the realisation of the painting ‘To Breathe Or Not To Breathe?’ The title of the artwork echoes Hamlet’s existential question “To be or not to be.” In this famous soliloquy, the Shakespearean character wondered whether to live or die, whether to act or to put an end to his life. In the same way, humanity is summoned to confront the damage it has inflicted on the marine environment. The plastic waste thrown into our oceans is not only suffocating the aquatic flora and fauna, but is depriving us of our “blue lung.” The oceans produce 70% of the oxygen we breathe, through the Prochlorococcus which provides the oxygen for one in every five breaths we take. The painting thus depicts the representative symbol of the One Ocean Foundation, the seahorse, submerged by a myriad of cotton swabs. The eco-existential question does not stop questioning observers during nightfall. In the darkness of the evening a fluorescent question mark emerges, tracing the buried silhouette of the species, which risks extinction due to the insensitive actions of human beings.

Private Collection