Illustration Design
Lost Soles
An Artistic Exploration of Lost Cargo and Marine Conservation
The Incident
Scientists and beach communities on both sides of the Atlantic have been confronted with the sight of hundreds of unworn Nike running shoes washing up on the shores. Further investigation revealed that in 2018, the Maersk Shanghai lost containers filled with footwear off the coast of North Carolina.
According to the BBC, shipping companies are only required to report lost containers if they pose a hazard to other vessels or contain substances deemed "harmful to the marine environment"; such as corrosive or toxic chemicals. Although organizations like the Marine Conservation Society argue that products like trainers have a detrimental impact on marine ecosystems, they do not fall under the category of "harmful" substances that necessitate reporting.
A Shoe as Symbol
This project employs a shoe as a symbolic element to create an artwork that highlights this regulatory gap and its marine consequences. The shoe is depicted as broken and distorted, while the perspective is manipulated to represent the influence of the ocean on the object; its slow dissolution into an environment it was never meant to enter.
The chosen medium is watercolors and charcoal dust: materials that themselves resist control, that bleed and disperse, that can't quite hold their shape. A formal echo of the object's fate.
