National Aquarium

Commissioned by the National Aquarium for Artscape, Octopus is a 10 by 20 foot installation woven from single-use plastic bags over a frame of chicken wire and PVC pipe.

I made it to raise awareness about the effects of single-use plastics on our ecosystems, and on our waterways in particular. It was installed in tandem with Sea Change, a global campaign initiated by the aquarium. The scale of the sculpture was intended to draw people into the space so that we could begin the conversation. The installation also featured a VR experience.

Visitors didn’t only look at it. A sign at the curb asked people to lend a hand to build an arm, and over the run of the festival the public helped weave all eight of them. Beside the sculpture, the aquarium set up a pledge wall — choose a conservation action, take a button, pin it up. Hopeful. Protector. Fearless. Curious. Bold. By the end of the weekend the buttons had filled in the words Sea Change. Sea change, see the change.

Two of the team weaving plastic bags onto the chicken wire and PVC frame of the head

The nearly finished head under a work tarp, its eyes waiting on the ground

The whole sculpture lit pink and purple at night, its arms reaching out between the trees

A crowd gathered beneath the octopus in daylight, beside a National Aquarium sign reading "Lend a hand to build an arm"

The arms and head lit teal and violet at night, seen from underneath

The pledge wall, a white banner covered in thousands of small coloured buttons that spell out the words SEA CHANGE, with the National Aquarium logo beneath The pledge wall at the end of the weekend, the buttons filling in the words.

Mock-up drawing of the octopus on the festival lawn, one arm curling over a striped tent while a family walks past on the path Site mock-up

Mock-up drawing of the octopus standing among the trees, arms curling down to the grass, tents behind it Site mock-up

Ink drawing of the octopus frame, noting nine parts across thirty feet — eight arms at twenty feet and a head ten by five — with the head drawn as hoops and ribs, arms skinned in stretched white plastic bags and suckers cut from bottle bottoms Concept sketch and build plan