Erub Island artist Jimmy John Thaiday creates ghost net sculptures in an effort to preserve sea life. Photo: Chisa Hasegawa.
An Erub Island artist is fighting climate change caused by discarded commercial fishing nets one sculpture at a time.
Jimmy John Thaiday’s colourful ghost net sculptures were a hit at this year’s Cairns Indigenous Arts Fair (CIAF), where patrons got an inside look into the art and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Mr Thaiday spoke to several visitors about the impacts of gillnets abandoned in the ocean.
“That’s been affecting the land, the reef, and also our food source,” he told Cape York Weekly.
“We want to save some food source for our generation and generations to come, otherwise we’ll have nothing left; we have to learn to protect our sea life.”
The artist said four tonnes of ghost nets were delivered to the Erub Art Centre, which were then washed and turned into sculptures.
“The goal is not just to grow awareness, but just to give people ideas to slow down, have a think, and do the right thing, and that way we’ll have more sea life for other people in life,” Mr Thaiday said.
“It’s not only the reefs that are getting damaged by the nets, it’s the trees, too, and once the net goes around the tree and chokes the trees, that’s when erosion starts, and that’s when we start to lose our land.
“At the end of the day, climate change is still happening, and the only thing we can do is show people and make sure they understand about what they’re doing.”
Mr Thaiday said he was happy to have a platform like CIAF to educate while turning harmful waste into something beautiful.
“Feeling very good and proud that we are doing something about it, it’s not much, but as long as we got a smile on our face and it brings you that excitement from the inside, we can say this is what we create towards a better life,” he said.
