Kriti Kumari
During her residency at Öres Residency, visual artist Kriti Kumari investigated the phenomenon of eutrophication in the Baltic Sea, a process intensified by nutrient pollution that obstructs sunlight, reduces oxygen levels, alters aquatic vegetation, and transforms the chemical and visual characteristics of marine ecosystems. Within the island context, she examined the subtle yet profound ecological shifts that destabilize the marine environment.
Changing Color of The Baltic Sea
Her sculptural installation, composed of bioplastic, collected aquatic plants (including watermilfoil, gutweed, carragheen, bladderwrack), land grasses, and metal wire, materializes these transformations by evoking the foaming patterns, odors, and chromatic changes symptomatic of eutrophication. Through hand-based, craft-oriented methods, Kumari translates ecological science into sensory experience, situating artistic practice as a mode of critical inquiry.
The work operates simultaneously as an ecological warning and as an appeal to cultivate empathy toward non-human life, foregrounding the urgency of rethinking human/ocean relations.
Artist statement
Changing Color of The Baltic Sea
"Eutrophication affects all marine areas surrounding Finland. The most concerning situation is in the coastal areas of the Gulf of Finland and the Archipelago Sea. Among the open sea areas, the Gulf of Finland and the northern part of the Baltic Sea’s main basin are in the poorest condition. The Bothnian Bay is the least eutrophicated of Finland’s marine areas, but its condition has also deteriorated". mentioned by Itameri. fi - State of The Baltic Sea.
During her two-week residency at Öres Residency (@oresresidency), Kriti focused on eutrophication, its ecological and societal impacts caused by nutrient pollution. On the island, where human intervention is limited, she encountered its effects: blocked sunlight, spreading dead zones, and the altered presence of aquatic plants.
Through walking along the seashores and observing aquatic plants, she reflected on the changing relationship between humans, oceans (Baltic Sea), and other living beings.
Her sculpture is made of bioplastic, washed-out aquatic plants (i.e. watermilfoil, gutweed, caragheen, bladderwrack) , land grasses and metal wire . It mirrors the visual appearance, toxic foaming pattern, changing colors, odors, chemistry and physicality of this ecosystem caused by eutrophication in the Baltic Sea. It is both a warning and a call for empathy toward “non-human” beings, asking us to imagine futures where ecological balance is possible.
Do we notice the change in the ocean from land?
The question is no longer only what humans want, but how others non-human survive and at what cost.