(PRE-ORDER) 'The Aral Sea' - Limited Edition Fine Art Print - Signed by the Artist

Limited edition fine art print of my ‘The Aral Sea’ painting from my collection, "Maps of the Earth We Still Have"

The Aral Sea, once the world's fourth-largest lake, lost over 90% of its original volume, leaving it split into smaller bodies of water. The exposed seabed became a new, toxic desert, filled with salt and pesticide residue from years of agricultural runoff. The Aral Sea Disaster was caused by the Soviet Union diverting rivers to irrigate cotton fields, which caused the sea to shrink drastically. This led to the collapse of the local fishing industry and has caused severe health problems for the region's inhabitants.

For this painting, I was inspired by a quote and proverb by the locals in the region. First, when this area started to collapse, the locals referred to the salt deposits left in the dusty seabed as "the dry tears of the Aral." Second, a local proverb showed how much they revered the water before it disappeared, saying that "In every drop of water there is a grain of gold." I wanted to incorporate both of these ideas into this painting, with droplets of gold in the sea that's left, and golden tears running throughout the exposed desert. Restoration efforts are being worked on. Since 2023, approximately 5 billion cubic meters of water have flowed into the basin, bringing the total reserve to 24.1 billion cubic meters. Local restoration projects hope to bring the fishing industries back to the area eventually.

Details:

- 11x14

- Printed on archival quality watercolor paper.

- Hand-embellished with gold ink to look as close to the original as possible.

- Comes unframed, with stiff cardboard backing and shipping insurance. 

- Only 30 available.

- Comes with the correlating track by Baumarius, delivered as an MP3 file

- Comes with printed 5x7 poem by Scott Thornton that accompanies the print

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS FOR PRE-ORDER ONLY. PRINT, SONG, AND POEM SHOULD ARRIVE BY END OF JULY. PURCHASING THIS PRINT WILL ALLOW US TO FINISH THIS PROJECT.

10% of the sale of this print will be donated to The Women's Earth Alliance. When women thrive, the earth thrives. Women's Earth Alliance catalyzes grassroots, women-led solutions to protect the environment, end the climate crisis, and ensure a just, thriving world.