There are no more crocodiles in the sea

With this painting I tried to carry on a reflection around the indissoluble bond that exists between Man and Nature, a bond as intense as it is mistreated that, however, will affect our future as human beings. I decided to focus my attention on the influence of human activities on aquatic environments, which being by their nature very far from our condition as terrestrial beings are often the least taken into consideration – despite being fundamental for our lives. The painting shows some elements related to recreational pools, fun and children’s play, but revised in a more dramatic key: water slides as industrial discharges, and an abandoned and overturned inflatable crocodile with references to various critical situations such as the death of aquatic organisms, the progressive tropicalization of our seas and the dispersion of plastic waste into the environment.
The title of the project refers to the novel ‘In the sea there are crocodiles‘ (Baldini & Castoldi, 2010) by F. Geda where there is an emblematic scene in which the young Afghan refugee protagonist understands that the death of one of his friends was not caused by the “crocodiles”, who had told him to be at sea, rather than by the ruthlessness and carelessness of men – not only towards the environment that feeds them, but also towards other human beings.