Caribbean art exhibit portrays the threatened beauty of the ocean as deep-sea mining negotiations come to an end in Jamaica

Photo by Emma Lewis, used with permission. Members of the Sustainable Ocean Alliance Caribbean. Retrieved from globalvoices.org

As the sometimes tense deliberations of the Council and the Assembly of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) dragged on at the UN agency’s headquarters, the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston, a vibrant art exhibit brought the subject of the negotiations to life: deep-sea mining, the mostly unexplored depths of the deep sea, and the threats it faces.

“Ocean Depths Unveiled: Preserving the Abyss” was organized by the Trinidad and Tobago-based Ecovybz Environmental Creatives in partnership with another youth-led organisation, Sustainable Oceans Alliance (SOA) Caribbean and funded by the Open Society Foundations. The exhibition celebrated the wonders of the deep sea, while sending a message that the planet’s last and greatest wilderness (and carbon sink) must be protected and preserved.

The exhibition complemented the work of a tireless coalition of young people in Jamaica, in partnership with regional and international non-governmental organisations as well as indigenous Pacific Islanders. These “Deep Sea Minders” continue to campaign for a stop to destructive activity and have been raising awareness through traditional and social media in Jamaica. They have also protested on the hot, windy waterfront in downtown Kingston, opposite the conference centre. Pacific Islanders have also made their unique contributions to the debate, inside and outside the conference centre walls.