Carcass is a hand-built ceramic installation that invites viewers to engage with the theme of ocean degradation through the lenses of coral bleaching and plastic pollution. Sculptures of endangered species from the Florida Reef Tract—including elkhorn, staghorn,pillar, and brain corals—are laid atop a bed of sand, where they are surrounded by ceramic renderings of man-made items frequently discarded in the ocean. Inspired by the reef structures themselves, Carcass emphasizes the precarity and possibility of interdependent and diverse systems. All sculptures are fired only once, mimicking the fragility of the corals, which, due to human stressors, are at risk of mass extinction, threatening to collapse the ecosystems to which they are central.

This article will be available to all in the coming weeks. To continue reading today, login or subscribe to Jewish Currents, starting at just $2/month.