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Using her own resin and non-toxic phosphorescence concoction, artist Miya Ando has coated 1,000 leaves and set them afloat in a pond in Puerto Rico. We've seen bioluminescent bodies of water radiating a brilliant sapphire hue against the night sky in the past, but Ando takes this natural occurrence and manually transfers the luminous beauty of bioluminescence in her public art project titled Obon [Puerto Rico]. During the day, the leaves' layered skin absorbs sunlight energy, which translates at night into a gorgeous path of drifting blue lights.
The temporary installation was commissioned by Fist_Art Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting and educating people about the relationship between contemporary art and nature. The piece, like the foundation's initiative, exemplifies the changing relationship art and people have with nature. While this ephemeral project preserves and spotlights the beautifully natural event of algae responding to disturbances, it is, ironically, manipulated.
