WARPPEd at the Aquarium
Wildlife Art Representing Pressures and Providing Education
New Aquarium Window Exhibition
Wildlife encounters a wide range of pressures in their natural environments. The pressures faced by some of our seabirds are the subject of the WARPPEd project currently on display at Galway Atlantaquaria. WARPPEd is all about showing the amazing variety of life in the ocean and how things we do as humans can impact this fragile world. Through art, WARPPEd makes it easier for people to understand these big issues and feel connected to them emotionally.
WARPPEd stands for Wildlife Art Representing Pressures and Providing Education. The project is based at the Atlantic Technological University and it involves combining art and science to highlight some of the challenges facing our wildlife. The project highlights how art can be a fantastic way to learn about science. By bringing out our emotions and helping us feel empathy, art makes learning about ocean conservation more memorable and meaningful. Seeing artistic representations of ocean life helps us understand why it’s so important to protect it. Art can also boost creative thinking and reduce stress, which makes it easier to learn and solve problems.
WARPPEd uses these strengths to help people in Ireland understand the unique life in our oceans and the environmental issues facing them
A big part of WARPPEd is showing how human actions—like damaging habitats, creating too much light, causing climate change, and polluting with plastic—affect seabirds and ocean creatures. Here at Galway Atlantaquaria we have four of the WARPPEd seabirds on display, each with its own message about the ocean’s health and our impact on it.
The project team have also developed an exciting marine science educational project focused on ethical taxidermy (stuffing and preserving animals found dead), to raise awareness of the effects of pollution and climate change on seabirds.
A range of free educational materials are freely available on the project website. https://warpped.wixsite.com/warpped/a-drop-in-the-ocean
The WARPPEd team at ATU includes Drs Katie O’Dwyer, Ian O’Connor and Heidi Acampora, all based at the Marine and Freshwater Research Centre in ATU Galway’s Dublin Road campus. They have worked with Donal Mulcahy of Glenameade Taxidermy; marine biologist and artist Sabine Springer; and media producer Peter Cutler and scientist Dr Andrew Power, both of Crow Crag Productions.
Dr Heidi Acampora has been collecting beached seabirds, with the help of the public, for the purpose of plastic litter research through the project Republic of Ireland Beached Bird Survey (RIBBS), since 2014. Besides research, the birds now get a new life through education and awareness.
Learn More:
For more information on the WARPPEd project see:
https://warpped.wixsite.com/warpped/a-drop-in-the-ocean
For more information on the RIBBS project, see
https://facebook.com/republicofirelandbeachedbirdsurvey
For more details on the Marine and Freshwater Research Centre at ATU Galway, please see: