Disappearance

About the Project

Oceans cover 70% of the Earth's surface, yet 91% of their species remain unidentified and the vast majority of their depths have never been seen. We are losing species to climate change, overfishing, and pollution before we have even had the chance to discover them.

This project started with that reality. Marine biodiversity loss is largely invisible, happening at depths and scales that don't translate to a headline or a photograph. Disappearance uses augmented reality to make that loss immediate and tangible, layering a data-driven narrative on top of a 19th century painting of ocean life to reveal what is being lost and what we stand to never know.

Inspiration & Approach

James M. Sommerville's painting Ocean Life is a 19th century depiction of a thriving, abundant marine ecosystem. It is detailed, beautiful, and full. That fullness is the point.

Disappearance layers an augmented reality visualization directly onto the painting. When a viewer scans it with the Artivive app, the data comes to life on top of Sommerville's ocean — not as abstract dots or percentages, but as the actual species the numbers represent. Saying we are losing 90% of something lands differently when you can see what that something is. The painting makes the loss tangible in a way that a standalone data visualization cannot, because the viewer's brain connects the numbers to living systems rather than to statistics.

The contrast between the historical ideal and the present reality is the work.

The AR Experience

To experience the work, viewers download the Artivive app, point their phone at the printed image, and the painting comes to life. What follows is not an animation in the conventional sense. One by one, each species in Sommerville's painting fades out. As each one disappears, it is marked off on a list to the left — a strike through a name, a confirmation that this one is gone or critically endangered. The experience is quiet and cumulative. By the end, the viewer is left looking at what remains of a painting that began full.

Re:D Magazine

Disappearance was published in Re:D Magazine, a publication by The New School featuring work at the intersection of research, design, and social impact. The invitation to be featured was a recognition of the project's place in a broader conversation: using design to address climate, equity, and systems change, which is where much of my practice outside of product design lives.