Agent of protection, impresa of fertility and gastronomic delight of aphrodisia … Oysters aren’t wanting symbolic virtues. Unfortunately, figurative lore holds little sway against the damning impacts of human activity on marine ecosystems. As a consequence of overfishing from bottom trawling, the population of oysters has dropped by 85 per cent over the past century and today the species teeters getting ready to extinction. In Fawn Rogers’ larger-than-life series of sea personalities, these clammy curiosities are imbued with recent meaning. Yoking vital themes of extinction, eroticism and ecofeminism, her paintings are an urgent reminder of climate and human rights emergencies and an eloquent testimony to the truth of life that operates beyond our possession.
“Oysters are each very fragile and highly sensual,”...
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