On the island of Paxos in Greece, visitors can discover a giant footprint, similar to a basketball sign in the sand. This monumental work, presented at the Paxos Biennale, denounces the destruction of nature and our planet by man.
Fifteen days: this is the time it took the Greek artist De Krank to install “Footprint”, a monumental work set in a green setting on the island of Paxos, west of Greece. His creation, made on the ground, represents a gigantic imprint of a human foot and covers an area of 1,000 square meters. It is made on the sand, a few meters from the sea.
A work as breathtaking as it is striking, but above all very committed. Presented as part of the Paxos Biennale running until July 31, it highlights: “the urgent need to strike a balance between economic growth, social well-being and environmental conservation”explains the artist on his Instagram account.
“Conceptually, ‘Footprint’ is about the meaning of loss. Nature, ecosystems, biodiversity, are in a variable state with a negative sign. The parallelism created by the transience of my work and of our presence as a species reinforces the message I wanted to convey. Everything is fluid and nothing should be taken for granted.”
Expose the passivity of governments
Like land art, street art is a powerful form of expression when it comes to raising awareness about the climate crisis. Like the Brazilian artist Mundano: in October 2021 he unveiled an impressive fresco made from the ashes of the Amazon fires. The work is located a stone’s throw from one of São Paulo’s main arteries.
In addition to paying tribute to firefighters and raising awareness of the importance of the wildfires that have plagued Brazil for years, Mundano wanted to use his gigantic fresco to denounce the inaction of governments to stop deforestation.
The monumental sculpture “Support”, first unveiled in the heart of Venice during the 2017 Biennale, also made an impression. The work, created by Italian artist Lorenzo Quinn, shows two gigantic hands emerging from the Grand Canal. They bear one of the emblematic monuments of the City of the Doges: the Ca’Segredo hotel, threatened by the rise of the seas and oceans linked to global warming. The statue was again exhibited at COP25, held in December 2019 in the city of Madrid.
(ETX Daily Up)