Deep Sea

Regular Edition

18 x 24 Inches
Fine-art Giclée print on Canson Aquarelle 310gsm museum-grade archival paper
Limited Edition of 100
Signed + Numbered
Printed with ♥ by Static Medium

Hand-Embellished Edition

24 x 32 inches
Fine-art Giclée print on Canson Aquarelle 310gsm museum-grade archival paper
Limited Edition of 35
Signed + Numbered
Hand-embellished
Printed with ♥ by Static Medium

Artist Statement

"To look at the surface of the ocean without knowing the sparkling web of life that is woven through its depths is to be blind to its wonders and the part it plays in making our existence possible." - Edith Widder, Ph.D., from her book Below the Edge of Darkness.

Ninety-five percent of Earth's living space is found below the surface of the ocean, a realm that remains largely unexplored. In the tiny fraction of seafloor that has been mapped, curious humans have discovered delightfully alien habitats: hydrothermal vents spewing mineral-rich clouds, the rocky base of an underwater mountain cradling an octopus nursery, and deep-sea coral reefs, never touched by sunlight, filtering food from the darkness. Above the seafloor, the water column bristles with life: from the "twilight" mesopelagic zone, beginning at 650 feet (200 m), through the "midnight" bathypelagic zone and the "abyssal" abyssopelagic zone, down to the deepest zone of all: the hadalpelagic zone, which extends all the way to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, at a depth of 36,070 feet (10,994 m). Every layer of the ocean plays host to its own particular cast of deep-sea characters specially adapted to the light, temperature, and pressure of their aquatic home. The majority of these creatures have yet to be seen by human eyes; estimates from the late aughts placed the number of yet-to-be-discovered deep-sea species between 10 and 30 million.

This world, seemingly so far from our own, has nonetheless suffered the deleterious impacts of over-consumption. Plastic has made it to the deep ocean in the form of heavily-concentrated micro-plastics and garbage; a plastic bag was even found in the Mariana Trench. Here, researchers discovered that crabs were intensely contaminated with pollutants like PCBs. Deep-sea trawl nets rip a devastating and staggeringly underreported number of fish from our oceans, causing a cascade of effects through ocean food webs, and a greed-fueled race for new deep-sea mining projects poses untold risks to deep-sea habitats. It would be an unbelievable tragedy to lose the magic of the deep sea and its unmatched, unknown biodiversity. Hope can be found in the passionate work of the scientific community. Innovative research and compelling education work by MBARI (whose incredible deep sea footage inspired many of the creatures in the 'Deep Sea' print), the Schmidt Ocean Institute, the Ocean Exploration Trust's Nautilus Exploration Program, and the PangeaSeed Foundation are all helping to connect the public with the wonders of the deep sea.

- Zoe Keller