A local artist has created an eco-art project in Tuvalu to highlight the threat rising sea levels caused by global warming pose to island nations and draw attention to the issue for an upcoming international summit on climate change.
Vincent Huang (黃瑞芳), who visited the South Pacific island nation in the middle of last month to create the installation artworks, said in a recent interview that his eco-art project has been warmly welcomed by the Tuvaluan government.
“They [the artworks] sent a message” of willingness to jointly launch other eco-art projects during a UN Climate Change Conference set to take place in Doha from Nov. 26 through Dec. 7, Huang said after meeting top Tuvaluan government officials.
Photo: CNA
During a four-day stay in Tuvalu that began on Sept. 17, Huang and his crew set up an installation art piece on a beach consisting of a fuel truck nozzle tied in a knot. The 4m by 2m artwork also featured an image of a polar bear relaxing in a hammock. It symbolizes the end of the world’s reliance on oil and a move back toward a life of simplicity, Huang said.
Another one of Huang’s installations, set up in the waters off the country’s coastline, featured images of polar bears squeezed into oil drums, a concept inspired by oil giant Royal Dutch Shell’s plan to drill for oil in the Arctic region.
Oil exploration causes environmental damage and continued global warming could put Tuvalu in an even more precarious situation as a result of rising sea levels, the 41-year-old artist said.
Photo: CNA
Tuvaluan Governor-General Sir Iakoba Taeia Italeli expressed his gratitude for Huang’s concern and his efforts to draw attention to the fact that Tuvalu would be one of the first victims of a rise in sea levels as a result of global warming.
“I think this kind of assistance is so important to us,” the governor-general said in a video in which he commented on Huang’s project.
Huang’s art project in Tuvalu coincided with a visit to the islands by the UK’s Prince William and his wife on Sept. 18 and Sept. 19, which the artist said would help garner more international media attention for his environmental message.
During another trip to Tuvalu in 2010, the artist waded out to a reef on the country’s main island where he erected a small sculpture of a desiccated mermaid made of dried coconut shells and pieces of palm trees.
The figure of the dried Little Mermaid represented the failure of the UN Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in late 2009, the artist said.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
Firefighters are working to put out a fire on Taipei’s Yangmingshan (陽明山) reported earlier this morning. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. The Taipei Fire Department said it received a report of a fire at Xiaoyoukeng (小油坑) at 11:17am, dispatching four command vehicles, 16 firetrucks, one ambulance and 72 personnel. The fire is still burning on about 250m² of land, according to initial estimates, as eyewitnesses reported seeing smoke rising from the mountain. The Yangmingshan National Park Headquarters on Facebook said the Qixingshan (七星山) hiking trail starting from Xiaoyoukeng and the Xiaoyoukeng parking lot are closed as firefighters work to put
RSS