CORAL SKELETONS: A GRAVE ARRANGEMENT

Coral reefs cover less than 0.1% of the ocean floor yet support 25% of all marine fish species—over 4,000 species depend on them for food and shelter. Over 500 million people rely on reefs for food and income, generating an estimated $375 billion annually through fishing, tourism, and coastal protection. However, mass coral bleaching events—triggered by rising ocean temperatures—are destroying reefs at catastrophic rates. When water temperatures rise even 1-2°C above normal, corals expel the algae living in their tissues, turning white and dying within weeks if temperatures don't cool. Reef collapse means mass starvation for subsistence fishing communities, economic devastation, and cascading failures throughout ocean food webs.

Beyond human survival, corals provide irreplaceable services: they shield coastlines from storms, filter water quality, and serve as pharmaceutical factories—25% of all marine-derived drugs come from reef organisms. Most critically for climate, reefs sequester carbon at 10 times the rate of forests. Destroying coral removes one of Earth's most efficient natural carbon storage systems while releasing stored carbon back into the atmosphere, making their loss both a biodiversity and climate catastrophe. With global bleaching events now occurring every 2-3 years instead of every 25-30 years, reefs are losing their ability to recover, and scientists warn many could be functionally extinct within decades.

"Coral Skeletons: A Grave Arrangement" transforms the painting into an accusation wrapped in beauty—flowers arranged over bones we intentionally created through our choices. It's poetic, damning, and achingly appropriate for an artwork about climate catastrophe.