Photographer: Elena Escobedo Mermaid: Calypso Sirena Top: Feathers of Artemis Hair & Makeup Artist: Haley Mariah Tuesday
I’ve always been greatly concerned with how humanity treats the Earth. The idea for “Water is Life” is a reflection on how fragile our oceans are and how mistreatment of them is destructive for the life that lives within them. My mermaid friend Rachel, who is a scuba diver and about to circumnavigate the globe by sailboat (how fitting for a mermaid!), and I teamed up to tell a narrative of how humanity impacts waters.
The top is literally made from trash; beer caps, a broken laptop screen, VHS tape. So much of what we consume ends up in a landfill and subsequently, the ocean. Fish eat the plastic and we eat the fish. It’s cyclical. As we move further up the food chain, hazardous materials and trash end up getting concentrated within the bodies of these animals. For example, by the time a beluga whale (who is high on the food chain) passes, its body is handled as hazardous waste. With humans being top tier of the food chain, we see the consequences of the contaminated waters within our own bodies.
I see a change happening to where people put more stock into what they do, how they consume. How our actions affect everything around us, how our actions come back to affect ourselves. The Earth is such a beautiful home to us, and it will be fine without us. Humanity is in its teenage stage as a species, and it’s all about learning a balance.
Visit Photographer’s website: www.ElenaEscobedo.com
