Robi Smith is a community-engaged artist working principally on coastal ecosystem and climate impact themes. Robi will introduce her work-in-progress Inland: An Unnatural History and launch her Canada-wide invitation for crowd-sourced “found object” contributions across the duration of the festival to draw attention to the impacts of consumer culture on local and coastal waters. This project encourages people to explore the waterways in their local community and look closely for a small object that doesn’t belong in the natural environment and that, if not collected, could end up travelling all the way to the ocean.

Throughout the course of this project, Robi invites participants to record their observations of the object as though they were a scientist, noting the location the object was found, distinguishing characteristics of the site, and any observations about the object itself, and then mail in their finds for incorporation into an eventual art installation. “Finds” could include found debris such as single-use plastics, food and drink packaging materials, fishing line, clothing, fashion accessories, footwear, disposable masks and gloves, and more. What will you find? Follow the project on Instagram @inland_natural_history

She will also create a site-specific installation made from the collected “specimens”, encouraging people to explore the waterways in their local community and look closely for a small object that, if not collected, could end up travelling all the way to the ocean.

About the artist: 

Robi Smith is a community-engaged visual artist from Vancouver (BC) whose site-specific installations and mixed media paintings reflect her passion for coastal ecosystems. She is the recipient of multiple artist grants and a fellowship from the Earthwatch Institute to create artwork about the diversity of plants, animals, birds and insects that support salmon-bearing streams in Washington State. She holds a Master of Education in Arts for Social Change from Simon Fraser University.

Additional links of interest:

• http://robismith.com
• https://www.instagram.com/inland_unnatural_history

Contact: Ocean Week Canada Curator: Melissa Rombout melba@melbavivendi.com