Story Behind This Mural
Artist Statement
“Smoke on the Bay” is a mural that explores the ecosystem off the coast of Emeryville, where growing carbon emissions and port pollution warm and acidify our waters. An ethereal Pacific Sea Nettle emerges from billowing emissions from the silhouetted Oakland port. In the short term, these jellies swell in population because their copepod prey are weakened by ocean acidification; in the long term, the jellies' ecosystem and food source will collapse.
Humans face a similar crisis: unchecked industrial development brings short-term comforts, but guarantees devastation in the long-term from endless expansion, consumption, and pollution.
This jellyfish represents a clouded, looming disaster–a world where the beauty of the ocean is slipping through our fingers, and consumerism threatens our survival.