Tre' Packard
Executive Director
Why Yogyakarta and Pacitan?
Sea Walls: South Sea Calling plans to activate in two locations. The first activation will take place in Yogyakarta, a bustling urban city located about an hour from the closest beach. The project will then move to Pacitan, a vacation destination and small-scale traditional fishing port about three hours southeast by car.
Yogyakarta is known as the arts capital of Indonesia, celebrating both modern fine arts and traditional Javanese artisanry. This strong connection and advocacy for cultural endeavors make Yogyakarta an excellent location for Sea Walls murals. The large-scale paintings will serve as valuable attractions to tourists and locals alike, reminding viewers of their inherent connection to and reliance on marine and coastal ecosystems – even while residing in a landlocked city.
Pacitan is famous for its beaches, surf breaks, and thousands of limestone caves. The small town is home to an important fleet of artisanal and sustainable fishers increasingly competing with industrial fishing techniques, which deplete local fish stocks and endanger their livelihoods. In Pacitan, our artists will paint ten traditional fishing boats and five murals to raise awareness of unsustainable fisheries management and policy, as well as other urgent threats to marine resources such as plastic pollution, sea level rise, and ocean acidification.
As global climate change accelerates, preserving Indonesia’s coastline, marine biodiversity, and cultural connection to the ocean has never been more critical. Sea Walls: South Sea Calling will serve to illustrate the urban and rural interconnectedness with the ocean and inspire conservation at a meaningful scale.