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How many of you have heard 
of Amphitrite, goddess of the sea?

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Have you heard of Poseidon,
my husband? (Laughter)

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He gets around –

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I didn't want to marry him
but he kept sending his dolphins after me,

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and finally, I said, 
"Fine, I'll marry you,

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on the condition that we clean up 
our house, it's a mess!"

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All the rubble from dynamite fishing
and deep sea trawling,

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corals bleaching from climate change, 
pollution, disease.

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Corals are not only majestically beautiful 
but incredibly functional,

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providing habitat for more than 
25% of marine species

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and protecting shores from erosion.

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By running low volt direct current 
through sea water,

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limestone minerals 
deposit on a metal.

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And the resulting surface 
is a natural substrate

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for corals to settle upon
and colonize.

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Architect professor Wolf Hilbertz 
invented Biorock as a building material,

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and he teamed up with Dr. Tom Goreau,
President of the Global Coral Reef Alliance,

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to develop coral restoration

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and sustainable fishing practices 
in aquaculture.

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In 2003, I'm sitting in the audience 
of a sustainable architecture conference

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and I saw this –

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Oh my God, I was so moved, 
I had an epiphany.

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I looked down, I was wearing 
my two ocean rings

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– one with cast barnacles and fish,

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the other has ceramic bits 
I found in Glass Beach.

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I realized that everything 
I was doing at the time

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was somehow a reflection 
of the Biorock process.

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I was spinning dog, cat 
and human hair into yarn

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and accreting it 
onto chicken wire forms

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for this installation about 
human relationships with natural resources.

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This is an electroformed 
copper cauliflower,

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electroformed copper seedpods 
and hammered raised copper vessel,

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these are cast silver 
dogwood blossoms.

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I was freezing nature into metal,

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and now I saw 
I could use metal to grow life.

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This is thousands of kids 
weaving fabric,

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basically hiding the weaving wall sculpture 
I made beneath.

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The Randall Museum 
asked me to make a replica

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of this Beniamino Bufano Cat,

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so kids could weave wire to flush out 
its form like these previous pieces.

41
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So, I had to do this – 
I learned to scuba,

42
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I went to Pemuteran, Bali – 
home of Karang Lestari,

43
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it's the largest coral nursery in the world.

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And I took a Biorock workshop 
with Wolf Hilbertz and Tom Goreau.

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This a model –

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this is one of the sculptures –

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we did a lot of welding 
at night when it was cooler,

48
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and by day we would attach 
coral fragments with wires and pliers.

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Here is a progression 
of Liku Liku.

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The electrolysis creates an alkaline 
buffer zone around the structure,

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so corals can grow 2-6 times faster,

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less energy goes 
to the skeleton production,

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and they can withstand increased temperatures 
that normally kill them.

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After 6 years, I returned 
and Liku Liku is overgrown.

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The sculptures can be 
any size or shape,

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from this small coral skirt 
to this large dome,

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to reefs miles long.

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If we can build the super highway, 
why not a super reef.

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The process can be applied to –

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or it's actually very beneficial 
to oysters, mussels, sea-grasses –

61
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and it can be applied 
to artistic boat moorings

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and living ocean mausoleums,

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that attract fish, snorkelers 
and photographers.

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This past summer, I worked 
with an amazing team

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to make a sculpture for MUSA, 
the underwater museum

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in the National Marine Park 
in Cancún.

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And this is the work 
of Jason deCaires Taylor,

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he's the director and curator.

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Here are some of the designs 
I submitted –

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I was trying to incorporate
some castings with metal and –

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we landed on DNA –

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While working on the model

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I was contemplating content, 
composition and function,

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and I was also thinking of 
how humans and corals

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actually share very similar 
immunity genetics.

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So depending on your interpretation,

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the helices can be dividing 
or coming together.

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The sculpture's in Mexico now awaiting
some final paperwork and funds,

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so that we can return 
as soon as possible,

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and put it out there 
and plant it with coral.

81
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In the meantime, I'm working with Woody Wood 
at Sea Horse Aquarium & Supply in Portland.

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We're doing some experiments 
in closed systems,

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and through my artistic lens, 
I'm learning a lot

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about coral biology, 
electrolysis and chemistry

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in a very tactile, intimate way.

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We need creativity, calcium 
and courage to revive corals,

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and to prevent them 
from bleaching and dying.

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And when you imagine 
life support in the ocean,

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it doesn't have to be 
industrial and sterile.

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It can be provocative, 
experimental and inviting,

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and if the corals collaborate 
and play their part,

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almost invisible.

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(Applause)